The Lyoko Guardians
by AngonceNui
Summary: Aelita and Jeremy have been on their own since the discovery of the supercomputer. A vicious Xana attack changes all of this, and the two are forced to seek out help from their fellow students. Who can they trust to keep their secret? Will they manage to discover the truth behind Xana's attack? And who are these strange 'Lyoko Guardians? Are they friend? Or foe?
1. Chapter 1

The clack of a keyboard and the whir of machinery filled the computer lab. A blond-haired boy sat at the console of a rather sophisticated looking computer, fingers flying across the machine's keyboard. A young girl with pink hair stood quietly behind him, watching while the boy worked. The blond paused in his efforts for a moment, sighing in frustration. The girl looked sympathetically over to him, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"Is it as bad as all that?" She asked him gently, rather hoping for the best. The boy turned in his chair to face the soft-voiced pinkette. Unfortunately he would have to dash her hopes. The damage had been done and was practically irreversible.

"I'm afraid so," he replied, sounding crestfallen. "It's just as we feared - Xana's corrupted most of the files on my database. The vehicles are a mess and as for the superscan...I wouldn't even know where to start." The boy's shoulders slumped in discouragement. Without the superscan, Aelita would have to return - and stay - in Lyoko in order to keep an eye out for Xana's attacks. Aelita looked sadly at her dispirited friend. She understand how he felt. She didn't want to be separated from him either. She took one of his hands and held it comfortingly.

"Don't worry, Jeremy," she consoled the young genius gently. "Together we'll be able to fix this."

"But it'll take time," Jeremy replied, shaking his head disheartened. "The superscan is beyond repair. I doubt we'll even be able to salvage anything. We'll have to program a new one and that'll take months."

Aelita pressed her lips together firmly. She knew that the boy was more upset about her having to return to Lyoko than having to reprogram the superscan. She let out a small sigh all the same. She had only been virtualized a month, but she had enjoyed every (at least almost every) bit of it. Now she would have to leave this new world and be alone in her own. Jeremy was still looking down at his hands dejectedly. Aelita placed a finger under his chin and raised his eyes to meet hers.

"Don't worry, Jeremy. We'll find a way. It'll take Xana a lot more than this to tear us apart. We'll still be in contact, and I'll see what I can do from my end while you're at school."

Jeremy nodded his head in agreement, smiling slightly. Aelita smiled back, glad to see that the genius was back to his old self. Suddenly the blond cried out slightly as if having thought of something. Aelita looked at him puzzled, wondering what the outcry was about.

"What is it?" She asked. Jeremy looked like he was about to have a panic attack.

"School!" He replied frantically to Aelita. "What am I going to tell the teachers about your absence. We've managed one or two classes before - even a day - but this could last for months!"

Aelita smiled, closing her eyes in relief. At least that was all Jeremy was worried about. She shook her head gently at her friend's outburst. Sometimes he could be quite excitable.

"Don't worry," the pinkette calmed Jeremy down. "We'll just tell them that I have some family matters to attend to and I'll be gone indefinitely. We could have them send me homework as if I were really away. As long as it's not hands-on I can do them easily on Lyoko, and you can turn my homework in as if I had sent it to you."

Jeremy thought about it for a moment. Aelita's plan certainly could work. He'd have to fake another letter from his parents, either that or write one from Aelita's 'parents'. Then they could send him home with Aelita's homework, which he would then 'send' to her. If all went well it would be the perfect cover up.

"Okay," he agreed, much to Aelita's delight. "But we'll have to find another solution in about a month. Our excuse for your absence won't hold up much longer than that."

Aelita nodded, figuring it would best to get this all over with as quick as possible. "Okay then, I'm ready to go to Lyoko."

"What? Now?" Jeremy asked, caught off guard by Aelita's readiness. The pinkette just nodded.

"Better sooner than later," she quipped confidently. Jeremy turned back to the computer screen.

"Well first I'll have to debug and reboot the supercomputer. The superscan and the vehicles aren't the only things messed up. Lyoko's a bit buggy too, and before I send you there I want to make sure that you'll be alright."

"Alright I'll wait," the girl nodded in agreement. Jeremy entered some codes into the console. His hand hovered over the return key. "You might feel a bit drowsy, so you'll probably want to sit down."

Aelita just nodded, taking a seat in her chair. The two Einsteins had brought it into the lab so that Aelita wouldn't have to stand up all the time while Jeremy worked on the supercomputer. As Jeremy pressed the key, Aelita began to feel sleepy. Content in the knowledge that everything would be alright, the girl quickly let the darkness engulf her as she slumped over in her chair, fast asleep.

Jeremy looked over to her caringly. She looked so peaceful when she slept, even more peaceful than she was while awake. Shaking himself out of his thoughts, Jeremy turned back to the screen to monitor the rebooting process. _20% Data Repaired,_ the computer screen read. Jeremy looked slightly surprised at the holographic projection of Lyoko. '_Weird,_' he thought, glancing again at the screen, which now read _40% Data Repaired._ '_It looks like all of Lyoko's recovered and yet it's only at forty percent._'

Jeremy shrugged it off for now. There were many mysteries surrounding the Lyoko Supercalculator. The most likely reason for this particular occurrence was that Lyoko had a lot of supporting data that didn't manifest itself directly within the virtual world. In fact, as he thought about it, he became sure that this was indeed the case. He leaned back in his chair as the supercalculator continued to reboot.

_60% Data Repaired._

_The samurai's eyes shot open. He jumped to his feet, looking around him in confusion. He appeared to be in a tower of some sort. The walls were covered in panels made of binary code. He was standing on a brightly lit platform, the lights on the floor forming a strange eye-like symbol. The samurai looked down at himself. He was dressed in a strange black and orange garb. 'Who am I?' he wondered as he rested his arms by his side. His left hand landed on something. Glancing down, the warrior saw that on his hip was strapped a sword upon which his hand currently rested. He pulled the sword out of its sheath. It rang slightly as he swished the weapon through the air in front of him. The blade looked wickedly sharp. 'At least I'm not defenseless,' he thought, sheathing his sword. He began to look for a way out. Part of the platform seemed to form a path. Unfortunately that path ended in a wall, however. He placed his hand on the wall, attempting to feel for a weak point or perhaps a hidden door. Instead of finding a door the samurai shouted in surprise as his hand actually slid through the wall as he pressed upon it, blue light emanating from where his hand had gone through. Curious, the samurai pushed himself through the wall and into the burning light of the world outside._

_80% Data Repaired._

_The tower stood serenely among the snow drifts. Its domineering presence seemed to silence the landscape. That was, until a purple cat-like shape burst out from the side of the immense tower. The figure fell hard onto the icy ground. Apparently it hadn't expected the wall of the tower to give way. Tail twitching, the blond-haired boy pulled himself out of the snow drift he had careened into. Brushing himself off, he paused to look at his hands - or rather, paws. He spent a while inspecting himself before taking notice of his frozen surroundings. He whistled at the sight of the barren, ice-covered wilderness that lay before him. 'I wonder what this place is?' He thought as he started to walk in no particular direction. Suddenly the ground gave out from under him. With a shout of surprise the human-cat hybrid plummeted into the chasm that had opened up underneath his feet. Landing hard on his back, the blond found himself sliding down a slippery tunnel of ice. "Woaoaoaoaoah!" He yelled as he spun and flipped through the underground passage. After some time of this, the purple-clad feline noticed a light at what appeared to be the end of the tunnel. The hybrid was suddenly flung into the open air of the icy land that he had arrived in before disappearing into yet another snow drift. The moment of silence following the hybrid's collision with the snow bank was abruptly broken by a whoop and two arms and a head exploding from the pile of snow they had landed in. The boy smiled in exhilaration. 'Now that's what I call a rush!' He thought, eagerly looking around for other tunnels he could slide through._

_100% Data Repaired_

_A figure made its way carefully down the side of the mountain. Staying close to the mountainside, the geisha edged along slowly. She had found herself on the top of the higher of two peaks when she had emerged from the tower. Determined to find out where and who she was, the raven-haired girl had begun to make her way down the enormous floating chunk of rock. Finally making it to the bottom, the geisha noticed a pathway leading deeper into the floating mountain range. She glanced up at the tower she had come from. 'How did I get here?' She asked herself silently. Receiving no answer, the girl began walking across the bridge that led to the nearby plateau. Perhaps somewhere among these misted peaks she would find the answers to her questions._


	2. Chapter 2

_The samurai walked slowly out of the tower. He covered his eyes with one hand, temporarily blinded by the sun's brilliant light. Once his eyes were adjusted, the samurai removed his hand to his side and surveyed the landscape. He was in a desert. Nearby was a small oasis. Walking up to the small pool of water, he started slightly as he looked into it. Then he relaxed. The person he had seen staring back up from the pool was none other than himself. He gazed critically at his reflection, now having a full view of his body. His black and yellow kimono stood out all the more in the light of the desert sun. He put a hand to his forehead. He was wearing a bandanna-like cloth wrapped around his dark brown hair. The ends of which fluttered in the slight breeze. He knelt down and placed a hand in the water. The water did not ripple like he had expected it to. Though why he had expected it to ripple, he did not know. Instead, a slight blue light emanated from the outline of his hand, disappearing when he removed it. 'Strange,' he thought. He stood up, glancing around the plateau to decide where to go next. Unfortunately the desert looked more or less the same in every direction, with the exception of the tower of course. Suddenly a flash of light on the horizon caught his attention. Squinting into the distance, the samurai made out the metallic flash again. 'What is that?' he wondered. 'Might as well check it out, better than staying here,' he decided with a shrug. Glancing around to make sure he knew in which direction the tower and oasis were, the warrior began to run across the scorching sands of the desert and towards the strange light on the distant edge of the plateau._

_The purple-clad hybrid slid to a stopped as he landed on all fours upon the icy ground. He let out a pumped-up whoop as he sprang to his feet. Since his first discovery of the ice tunnels, the feline had no shortage of exhilaration and fun. He had discovered that the icy region, at least this part of it, was criss-crossed with the windy, slippery tunnels. He surveyed the landscape (or would that be 'ice-scape'? he wondered) for signs of any more of the icy tunnels. The boy was to be disappointed however, as the plateau region he had landed on seemed devoid of any such formations. In fact, this area appeared completely flat. The hybrid crouched down to scoop some of the snow up in his paws. He made an attempt to compact it into a ball. "Can't even make a decent snowball here," he muttered to himself before pondering over the word he had just said. 'Snowball,' he thought, wondering where he had gotten the term from. 'Did I just make that up?' He glanced up at the top of the mesa he had just slid down. He could barely see the outline of the tower. He shrugged. 'Well I'm the only one here, so I'll just say I made it up.' He smiled slightly. The fact that no one was here negated the act of telling anyone. This thought made him wonder if he _was,_ truly, alone. Gazing across the ice-field once more, the feline spotted what appeared to be a pathway suspended over the strange sea which seemed to surround everything. Figuring he had nothing to lose, the hybrid decided to explore deeper into the heart of this frozen wasteland. Perhaps he would find some more ice slides, or something even cooler. Who knew?_

_The geisha walked slowly down the twisting pathway. On her right was a couple of floating mountains. On her left - an endless void filled her vision. She continued walking at an even pace. When she had covered half the distance to the next plateau she looked back towards the tower she had emerged from not so long ago. She could barely make out its outline on uppermost spire of the Twin Peaks. She turned around to continue on her way to the mountains that loomed in front of her. As she neared her destination she heard a strange hum. No, not a strange hum. It was more like...a buzzing sound. The girl paused, angling her head to see if she could discern from where the mysterious sound was emanating. She caught a movement - just a blur in the corner of her eye. She whirled around to face the thing. There was nothing. The buzzing became louder. Then it came from right behind her. She spun around, coming face to face with something that looked disturbingly like a giant wasp or hornet. It had a sharp stinger and proboscis extruding from its abdomen and head respectively. The creature hovered there as if attempting to decide what to make of the geisha. She noticed a strange symbol on the head of the hornet. It was the same symbol on the base of her tower: the Eye. Suddenly the stinger of the hornet began to glow a bright red. The girl guessed that this was not a good sign. She was proven correct when a bolt of energy shot from the stinger. It was followed by another and another. The geisha flipped and dodged with a grace and ability that surprised her. But despite her impressive acrobatics, the hornet was the one with the weapon. It was only a matter of time before she was hit. She continued her chaotic dance, the whole time wondering how she would escape her predicament._

Jeremy's head nodded slightly as he began to fall asleep. He jerked his head up in an attempt to avoid doing just that. He glanced down at the clock displayed on the supercomputer's screen. _8:37 PM._ He rubbed his eyes wearily. Although the supercalculator's reboot had started out smoothly - the quantum computer had manage to repair all of Lyoko's data within a few minutes - the rest of the operating system, not to mention his personal database, had proven far more damaged. In fact he had been lucky at all to even be able to initiate the reboot. Jeremy cast a glance at the progress bar. The screen read _87% Operating System Repaired. _Entering some instructions into the computer, Jeremy switched the screen over to view the progress of recovering his database. Needless to say, the progress had not gone well. Although complete, the recovery program had only managed to retrieve less than twenty percent of Jeremy's files, and it had been able to repair even less. _'Guess I'll have to recover the rest of my data myself,'_ He thought with a sigh. Jeremy swiveled in his chair to check on Aelita. Just as he had expected, Aelita was still fast asleep in her chair. Though whether her sleep was induced by the supercomputer or just from being tired, Jeremy wasn't sure. He thought she should have woken up once Lyoko had been recovered, however the blond was not overly concerned. The girl was breathing evenly with no signs of any problems or nightmares. Rubbing his hands together, Jeremy turned back to continue monitoring the supercomputer's progress.

Jeremy was awakened by a gentle shake and a soft voice calling his name. He must have fallen asleep again. He opened his eyes to find that it was Aelita who had woken him up. The computer must have finished its rebooting process. The pinkette smiled gently down at him. A glance at the clock told him that it was a quarter 'till ten. Rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, Jeremy yawned wearily. Aelita giggled slightly at the sight. Jeremy sighed. "I guess it's time," he said, looking sadly up into Aelita's face. The girl smiled sympathetically. She really wished she didn't have to go. Other than herself, Jeremy had no other real friends at Kadic. One of the consequences of being the top student, Jeremy had told her.

"Yes, Jeremy, it's time," she confirmed softly. She rested a hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry, I'll be fine. Once I'm on Lyoko I'll start working on the superscan right away."

"Me too," Jeremy said sleepily, before hastily correcting himself. "I mean when I get to school - not Lyoko." Aelita smiled softly.

"Oh no you don't, mister. You need to get some rest. Besides, tomorrow you're going to have to explain to Mr. Delmas why I won't be in school for a while."

The blond sighed. He knew he wasn't going to win this fight. Aelita wouldn't let him - and neither would his body. "Oh, alright," the boy conceded finally. "But I'm going to start working on the solution first thing I can tomorrow."

Aelita shook her head gently at the young genius' obstinance. Although she loved him for it, sometimes it could get annoying. "Well I suppose I can't stop you, but call me when you start. We can work on it together."

Jeremy smiled at the thought before turning back to the computer console to input some code. He took a deep breath. "Well, you ready, Aelita?"

"Yes, Jeremy, though from the way you look, anyone would think that _you're_ the one going to Lyoko." The pinkette replied humorously as Jeremy shuttered slightly, remembering the time he had needed to go to Lyoko in order to obtain immunity from Xana's specters. Aelita walked over to the elevator. As she entered it, Jeremy turned to look at her, knowing he would not soon see her in the real world again. She nodded at Jeremy and gave him an encouraging smile. "See you later," she waved softy to him, as she activated the descent mechanism.

"See you later," he replied as the doors closed and the elevator began its descent. Jeremy looked longingly at the door for a few more seconds before directing his attention back to the screen in front of him. "Aelita, are you in the scanner room?"

"Yes, Jeremy," Aelita responded over the intercom. "I'm entering into the scanner now."

Jeremy began initializing the code needed to virtualize Aelita. "Transfer Aelita," he intoned as he locked the scanner Aelita was in. "Scanner Aelita," he continued, activating the virtualization process. The device scanned Aelita's body, preparing her virtual form. He knew that at this moment Aelita was being lifted up by a strong current of air within the scanner. Once the scanner had completed the process, Jeremy took a deep breath and initiated the final stage. "Virtualization!" He recited as Aelita was demolecularized within the scanner and then reconstructed as a virtual being onto Lyoko.

He brought up the map of Lyoko. Aelita's signature appeared at the precise coordinates he had entered. "Aelita can you here me?" he asked, slightly concerned due to the state the virtual world had been in previously. He let out a sigh of relief when Aelita responded.

"I'm alright, Jeremy. I arrived safe and sound. I'm heading for the tower now."

"Okay, Aelita. Just watch out for monsters. I haven't spotted any, but you never know," Jeremy replied, observing Aelita's progress to the tower.

Several seconds later Aelita arrived at the tower without mishap. Jeremy let out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding. "I'm in the tower," Aelita reported.

"Then I guess I better get going," the boy replied, somewhat downcast at the prospect of having to journey back to school by himself. As if sensing his thoughts, Aelita comforted him softly. "Guess so," she said. "I'll see you tomorrow. Everything will be fine, you'll see, Jeremy."

"I hope so," Jeremy responded, getting up from his seat at the supercomputer. "I hope so."

He walked over to the elevator. Stepping inside, he pressed the ascent button and watched forlornly as the door closed in front of him. The ride up the elevator shaft seemed to last forever. When the machine finally halted and the door opened, Jeremy stepped out of the compartment and began to walk morosely out of the factory and across the bridge. Reaching the manhole cover, Jeremy lugged it open before climbing down the narrow tunnel. He carefully slid the metal disk back over the opening and made his way down to the sewer tunnel. When he had reached the bottom, the blond picked up and unfolded his scooter. He set off on it, leaving Aelita's scooter behind so that it would be there for whenever she came back. And she was coming back. He would make sure of that.

He silently rode through the tunnels back to the secret entrance in the middle of the school's forest. Jeremy folded his scooter up and dutifully climbed the ladder, emerging in the middle of a small clearing. He walked through the woods and into the dormitory cautiously. It would do him no good to be caught outside of his room at this hour, and he didn't feel all too inclined to face Jim at the moment. Making it to his room without being seen, the boy gave a melancholy glance at his quietly humming computer before collapsing into his bed, not bothering to undress. He quickly fell to sleep, all the worries of the day that had been etched onto his face fading away.

Aelita sat silently in the tower pouring over the display screen. Since her arrival she had begun working on the superscan program. Several hours had passed so far, and she was no closer to finding a solution. The superscan program was, as Jeremy had said, damaged beyond repair. They would certainly have to compile a new one. The pinkette was now instead looking through the damaged code to see if there was anything, anything at all, that could be salvaged, but the prospects of even that were not looking good. For one thing, the superscan was so corrupted that it had created four additional Lyoko scanner subroutines, with every one of those being for a slightly corrupted form of Lyoko. Even the primary superscan, designed to survey the entirety of the forest-covered virtual world, had been relegated by the computer to a subroutine. She had attempted to isolate this specific subroutine and use it as a framework for a new superscan, but every time she modified and tested the program the scan failed. The copied subroutines were so entwined with the primary search engine that the program simply could not function without them. Unfortunately the search engine would not function with them either, as it kept using search parameters that seemed to have the belief that Lyoko was four times larger than it actually was. She would simply get a error message reading _Error: Unable to locate sector_. To say this task was frustrating would be an understatement.

She rested her head in her hands, letting out a sigh of defeat. Until she could work through this tangled disaster of a program with Jeremy, she didn't think she was going to be able to make much progress. She still had a few hours before Jeremy would wake, however, and she didn't want to spend it lying around. A sudden inspiration struck her. If she couldn't make any headway on the superscan program, maybe she could work on repairing the vehicle programs. At the very least it would take some of the work off of Jeremy's shoulders. She accessed the program files of the three vehicles. She briefly wondered why Jeremy had programmed three vehicles, but, come to think of it, she did seem to recall him saying something about using each of the craft for various situations. Or it could have been about the ease of having additional vehicles on hold in case one was devirtualized. Of course then, why not just make three copies of the same program?

Aelita shook he head to clear it. She would just have to ask Jeremy about the whole deal later. Selecting the overwing, Aelita began the long and tedious process of repairing the corrupted data. For the next few hours she worked on this task, even having the spark of inspiration to begin adding a limited weapon capability to the overwing. Since she was replacing most of the code anyway it hardly made her task any more difficult. She was still hard at work when a small alarm beeped on the tower's interface console. For a few seconds the pinkette stared at it blankly before realizing with a flash that Jeremy was trying to contact her. Sure enough, seconds later, Aelita heard the familiar voice of her best friend.

"Aelita? Are you there Aelita?" The boy genius asked via the network connection. Aelita focused on that connection and soon had a visual of Jeremy's face. It was a strange feeling to once more be behind a screen when talking to Jeremy. She found that she far preferred their conversations face to face.

"I'm here, Jeremy," Aelita replied, happy to see Jeremy again, even if she was behind a screen. Jeremy let out a sigh of relief and smiled. Aelita smirked slightly. She hadn't even been gone for a day and already Jeremy's old anxieties of her being on Lyoko were cropping up. Looking at him, Aelita would guess that Jeremy had fallen asleep in his clothes last night, and that the boy had contacted her as soon as he had woken up.

"You look well rested," Aelita smirked slightly, pointedly glancing at Jeremy's ruffled shirt. Jeremy looked down at his attire.

"Uh - I guess so," he replied as he adjusted his glasses. Aelita giggled slightly at his embarrassment as she rested a hand on her cheek.

"I guess so," she echoed saucily before getting to business. "Have you decided what you're going to tell the teachers and the principal about my absence?"

"Uh-huh," Jeremy nodded. "I'll tell our teachers that you've had to leave today because of family problems. After that, when I get the chance, I'll write another letter from my parents to the principal. With any luck, it'll all hold out for about a month, maybe two."

"Well, we don't want to push it," Aelita warned, not desiring for Jeremy to get into trouble on her account. "If shove comes to push we'll say I had to drop out of the school."

Jeremy nodded in affirmation before chuckling slightly. Aelita looked at him confused.

"What's so funny, Jeremy?" The elf asked, curious as to what her friend could be laughing at.

"It's 'when push comes to shove', Aelita," Jeremy gently corrected with a chuckle. Now it was Aelita's turn to be embarrassed. She still didn't have human expressions down that well. She smiled back, though. She knew Jeremy meant no harm in correcting her. In fact she was rather glad that her mistake had made the boy smile.

Suddenly Jeremy glanced slightly behind him and to the left before getting up and bending over the keyboard. "Oops," he exclaimed. "I overslept a bit. I have to get ready for school."

Aelita nodded in response. "See you later," the girl replied. Jeremy smiled back.

"You too," he echoed. "As soon as I get all this sorted out today, I'll start working on the superscan immediately."

Aelita rolled her eyes gently as the connection was broken. Jeremy really didn't know when to take a break. Sometimes she even wondered if the boy even knew _how_ to take a break. Perhaps once Xana was defeated he would learn to relax once and a while. If not, then she would have to teach him how. She turned back to the tower's console and continued with her work on the overwing.

Jeremy sat nervously in the chair opposite Mr. Delmas' desk, as the principal read over the letter the boy had given him. As soon as school had ended - along with the teachers' constant questioning of Aelita's whereabouts - Jeremy had forged a letter from his parents detailing the problems Aelita's 'family' was having at the moment. He wasn't particularly proud of it, but it was the only option he had available. Apparently there had been several deaths and some financial troubles, so the girl was going back to stay with her family for a while. Jeremy hoped he hadn't oversold the manufactured situation. Which was why he let out a deep breath of relief when Mr. Delmas nodded, looking somewhat flustered by what he just read.

"Well, then," Mr. Delmas said, clearing his throat. "I suppose it would be best if Stones went to see her family, however I don't think sending homework to her will be necessary. I doubt she needs the added stress of school on top of her family's tragedy. When is her family coming to get her by the way?"

Jeremy took a breath. '_So far, so good, Jeremy. Don't ruin it now,' _he thought, as his mind went scrambling to find an suitable explanation.

"Uh, she already left, sir. Her family, uh, wired a plane ticket. She left first thing this morning. She asked me to tell you."

Mr. Delmas did not look particularly pleased at Aelita's sudden departure but seemed to decide that given the 'situation', her behavior was acceptable. He nodded in dismissal to Jeremy.

"Very well, I'll inform Aelita's teachers of this development. You can go back to whatever it was you were doing - and make sure to give Aelita my condolences."

"Thank you, I will sir," Jeremy assured the principal, as he got up from his chair. He walked out of the Principal's office and let out a sigh of relief before quickly heading towards his room. He figured that he should probably tell Aelita about her 'family troubles', for when they manage to reprogram the superscan. At least then she'd be able to answer any questions when she came back and avoid any suspicion. With this in mind, Jeremy opened the door to the dormitory and walked up the stairs. He was intent on finishing programming the new superscan as soon as possible.

_The samurai wandered through the desolate wasteland of sand and rock. He still had not found the source of the strange metallic gleam he had seen earlier. He huffed in frustration. The only thing he had manage to find so far was another tower. Just like the one he had emerged from, this tower was also surrounded in a bluish mist. Other than a nearby oasis the two towers were virtually identical. The warrior glanced up at the sun. It had not moved since he had exited his tower. Perhaps it was not supposed to move. He did not know. He also did not know why he expected it to move. He shook his head. Just more questions and no answers. But he was way beyond getting annoyed at this point. A gleam on the horizon caught his eyes. Without hesitating he shot of at super speed, an ability he had discovered on his way towards this wasteland. Unlike the first flash the samurai was able to catch this one. He jolted to a stop. Near the edge of the plateau stood a sort of metal sphere. The brown-haired warrior approached the object cautiously. When he was just a few meters away the sphere emitted a strange whirring noise. Suddenly a ring of strange eye-like protrusions emerged form the sides of the metal ball, and it split into two hemispheres. Inside the sphere was another, larger, eye surrounded by some sort of red organic tissue. "I don't like the looks of this," the samurai muttered, placing a hand on his sword. Rings of energy started to converge on the larger eye. The warrior braced himself out of instinct. Suddenly a vertical ray of red energy blasted from the sphere. The samurai was thrown backwards by the force of the blast. He slammed into a rock and lay there for a few moments. He felt as if he had been nearly cut in two. He painfully pulled himself to his feet and grimly faced his foe._

_The purple-clad feline ran as fast as he could on all fours across the frozen, snow-covered plain. Behind him were five block-like creatures suspended on small crab-like legs. Despite their appearances they were quite fast. And quite angry. Or at least the hybrid guessed they were angry. Why else would they be chasing after him and firing laser beams? Maybe they just did not like giant purple cats. He skidded around a snow bank, taking cover behind the small hill of ice. He gasped as he peeked over the crest. The monsters were still coming. "This is ridiculous. How am I supposed to get rid of these things?" The blond muttered to himself, glaring at his paws. He had claws, sure, but it was not like he could just walk up to the bloks and scratch them to death. He looked towards the bloks again. They were closing in. Attempting to buy some time, the feline hastily scooped up some loose snow and frantically packed it into a snowball, hoping this time it would stay. Fortunately the snowball stayed congealed. The lead blok quickly found itself temporarily blinded in one direction from the snowball that impacted its front eye. The feline smirked at the blok's confusion as it whirled around,trying to shake the snow off of itself. 'Maybe this'll be fun after all,' the hybrid thought as he scooped up some more snow. "Yea, take that you stupid bloks!" He shouted as he sprang over the snow bank, hurling snowballs at his aggressors. He was nearly out of snowballs when one of the bloks struck him in the chest with a laser blast. As he hurled backwards he tried to through the snowball in his hand at the blok to buy him some time. Unfortunately the blast had knocked the snowball out of his hand, however something was still flung from his hand. A silver arrow blasted from the felines paw and collided with the blok's eye. The monster spun around in shock before exploding into a myriad of pieces. The boy sat up, holding out his paws in front of him and looking at them admiringly. "Oh yeah," the feline grinned. "Let's see what these bloks think of this!"_

_The last hornet shattered into hundreds of pixels as the geisha's fan sliced through it. She held up her hand and guided the fan using her mind to where she was standing. The raven-haired girl had discovered her power of telekinesis when she had misjudged a throw of her fans at the beginning of the fight. She had been fighting the swarms of hornets for what had seemed an eternity. Before she had discovered her fans, she had dodged this way and that before finally finding a tower. She had rested there until the discovery. She had then braced herself and gone out to confront the swarm. Since then, the hornets had been attacking her relentlessly. The geisha knelt to the ground, catching her breath as the remains of the last hornet flickered out of existence. Rising back up she began walking back towards the nearby tower. She felt weakened from the multiple blasts she had received during the fight. She had noted last time she had entered the tower that she had regained her strength. The geisha carefully entered the tower. Standing in the middle of the newly-lit platform, the girl felt the energy of the tower heal her. Sensing that this would take some time, the geisha sat down in a lotus position and began to work on focusing her mind. If she was going to have any chance at surviving in this labyrinth of peaks and mist, she would have to master her power of telekinesis. The time past slowly as the geisha cleared her mind and focused. Even after the tower had healed her fully, the geisha continued her meditation. This went on for some time until a low thrumming sound echoed throughout the tower. The geisha opened her eyes. She listened for a moment. Perhaps she had been imagining the noise - no! There it was again. She stood up and walked to the wall of the tower. The sound was indeed coming from outside. Curious as to what was making the strange pulsations, the girl stepped through the wall and into the mists outside._


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Note: For those of you who have reviewed, thank you for your input. It is greatly appreciated. For those of you who will review, thanks in advance.  
**

**Now on with the story...**

_The samurai darted to the side as another crimson wave of energy shot from the metallic sphere. He gathered himself as the sphere rotated around to face him. Since the first energy wave the samurai had been careful to avoid getting hit again. He did not know what would happen if he was hit too many times. Judging by the feeling of that first attack though, it would not be good. The sphere began charging its central eye. As soon as the energy wave was released, the samurai dodged to the side and darted towards the imposing metallic monster. Racing past it at near supersonic speeds, the warrior grazed his sword across the machine's armor. He came to a stop behind the sphere before looking back. There was not even a scratch. Even the smaller eyes he had seemingly sliced through showed no signs of damage. 'This thing's invincible,' the boy thought to himself grimly. The sphere rotated its eye towards him again. He knew he would not be able to dodge its attacks forever. Fortunately he had an idea. He just hoped it would work. The monster began charging its eye once more. Not giving it the chance to attack first, the boy raced forward and jumped onto the sphere's exterior shell, just above its eye. The sphere rolled backwards at the impact of the samurai's landing. The warrior struggled to keep his balance all the while attempting to stab the still charging eye with his katana. "Come on hold still!" He shouted in frustration. "Just_ impact_!" Suddenly his sword shot forward into the eye of the creature. The red pulses dissipated as the blade pierced deep into the sphere's core. A strange crackling noise emitted from the sphere. Suddenly the monster exploded into a shower of pixels, flinging the samurai away. He landed hard on the desert ground. Getting to his feet slowly and brushing himself off, the boy looked towards where the sphere had once stood. All that was left of the battle was his katana lying on the ground. He walked over to pick the sword up. As he sheathed it, he heard a strange noise. He flinched at the sound, keeping a hand on his sword, as he tried to discover its source. The strange thrumming sounded again. Sand began to swirl as the pulsations became stronger. A wall of dust began to form on the horizon. "Uh, oh," the boy muttered, as a massive tornado emerged from the maelstrom and headed straight for him._

_The remains of the last blok had flickered from existence when the pulsations began. The purple-clad hybrid lifted his head and listened carefully. Another tremor echoed through the frozen air of the tundra. The feline stood up, readying an arm in case there were more monsters. Instead of more monsters appearing, however, a wind started to build up, grabbing and swirling the snow of the plateau. The hybrid lowered his arm a___s the storm continued to build_. "What's going on?" he asked of no one in particular, looking around in confusion as he began to become blinded by the flurry of snow. 'Whatever it is, I better get to cover,' the blond thought as he put a paw in front of his eyes in order to see if there was a nearby tower. Sure enough, in the distance the boy could just make out a solitary tower standing out from the otherwise level plain. He began trudging towards the stoic shape. The wind continued to build as he struggled against it. Every step he took seemed to cover less and less distance. He began to feel weak. It was as if the storm was sapping the strength out of him. The blizzard became too thick to see through. He could now only hope that he was going in the right direction. He began to stumble as his limbs began to lose coordination. 'Just a little bit further, come on you can do it,' he thought to himself, desperately trying to remain conscious. Suddenly his foot hit a small protrusion of ice. He stumbled and fell hard to the icy ground in front of him. He reached his hands forward in an attempt to drag himself forward. Looking up, the boy could barely make out through the snow a large shape looming in front of him. 'The tower!' He thought in a burst of hope. Determination surged through him as he desperately crawled towards the tower. He slowly dragged himself to his feet in front of it, but his body suddenly collapsed from underneath him as his legs gave way. He fell towards the wall of the tower. He closed his eyes, anticipating the impact of his face against the side of the structure. Instead of colliding with the wall, however, his body slid through it. Just as it had the first time when he had leaned on the inner wall of _his _tower. He caught himself with his paws as energy flowed from the tower into him. He managed to crawl onto the center of the platform before collapsing on the floor with a sigh of relief. 'Made it!' he whispered, resting his head down on the glowing platform._

_The geisha emerged slowly from the tower, fans at the ready. Another pulsation rumbled through the mountains a___s she emerged into the mist-filled air_. 'What could that be?' the girl wondered, taking a few more tentative steps away from the tower. She glanced around to find the source of the mysterious rumbling. As she looked around, a ripple traveled through the ground in front of her, accompanied by the same throbbing noise she had heard earlier. The geisha looked towards their source a___s the pulsations became stronger_. She gasped in surprise. The pulsations appeared to be coming from the direction of the tower she had first appeared in. Eyes narrowing with determination, the geisha began to run towards the source of the pulsations. Whatever was causing them might hold the answers to some of her questions. She had just reached the land bridge when a heavy fog rolled in. The geisha skidded to a halt. As she looked around at the mist that surrounded her she realized that it was the least of her problems. She watched in horror as the landscape began to disappear. The geisha turned around to run to the tower she emerged from. She let out another gasp of shock. The tower was gone, along with much of the plateau. Her eyes widened as the mountain continued to disappear, the strange void approaching her faster and faster. She closed her eyes a___s the void reached her_, anticipating the sudden fall into the sea below. Nothing happened. The geisha dared to open her eyes. She looked down in confusion. The only thing to be seen was the ever-present mists and the ocean below. And yet she appeared to still be standing on rock. Bending down, the geisha put a hand forward and was hardly surprised to find it stopped by what felt like the ground. 'It's just invisible,' she thought, looking around. 'It's all invisible. Which means the tower is still there!' Crouching down and placing her hands on the ground in front of her, the geisha slowly made her way towards where she thought the tower was. Sure enough, a few minutes later her hand collided with a vertical surface. Standing up, the geisha slowly pushed through the invisible barrier. She emerged into the interior of the tower. She glanced back towards the outside. 'Stranger and stranger,' she thought._

Jeremy jerked up from his desk at the sound of an alarm going off. He nearly panicked before realizing that the source of the grating noise was not from his computer but from his alarm clock. He quickly slapped the snooze button with a groan. He rubbed the sleep from his eyes. He must have fallen asleep while working on the superscan. A soft voice issued from his computer's speakers.

"Good morning, Jeremy. Sleep well?" Aelita asked smoothly, a gentle smile playing across her face.

Jeremy cleared his throat slightly while adjusting his glasses. He looked up apologetically at the elf.

"Uh, yea. Sorry about falling asleep on you there, Aelita," he apologized, a bit annoyed that he had succumbed to his body's need to sleep.

Aelita giggled softly. "It's alright. Besides, it was funny watching you fall asleep. You kept nodding your head and jerking it up, and then you tried to tell me something - but fell asleep right in the middle of it!"

Jeremy blushed slightly as the pinkette laughed softly again at the thought of the boy falling asleep mid-sentence. "Did I really?" He asked, a little embarrassed. Aelita just nodded with a sweet smile.

Jeremy rubbed his forehead. "I must've really been tired."

"Well you should've been," Aelita chastised gently. "It was past three 'o' clock in the morning!"

Jeremy looked up slightly shocked. That meant he had only fallen asleep a few hours ago.

"You need to stop working so late," Aelita continued, a worried tone in her voice. "You're going to wear yourself out."

Jeremy just shook his head. "I've got to Aelita. It's the only way to get you out of the supercomputer and away from Xana's clutches!"

Aelita frowned slightly. "Well you won't free me from 'Xana's clutches' if you die of sleep deprivation first! From now on, unless it's really super important, you're going to sleep before midnight!"

"You sound like my mother," Jeremy replied in exasperation. He knew he would not win this argument, however, and so backed down. "Alright, you win Aelita. I'll get a good night's rest from now."

"Good," Aelita nodded, Jeremy could imagine her crossing her arms in victory. "Now you'd better get going or you'll miss school."

"You know when I said you sound like my mother - that was an observation, not a suggestion," Jeremy protested as he got up from his chair. Aelita just laughed gently before waving goodbye and disappearing from the computer screen.

Jeremy stretched stiffly before grabbing a new change of clothes. _'Yep, this is going to be a long day,'_ he thought wearily as he headed off towards the showers.

* * *

As soon as the connection was broken, Aelita began to work on her personal project of repairing the vehicle programs. She and Jeremy had, over the course of the last night, determined the superscan beyond even salvaging. And knowing Jeremy, Aelita was sure that he would start on a new superscan program as soon as school was out. That is if he didn't fall asleep in class from sheer exhaustion. Aelita had always worried about the boy's habit of working late into the night and getting little sleep in the process. First it was her materialization program and now it was the superscan. She hoped that once they got the corrupted program replaced, that he would start getting some more rest.

Her thoughts turned back to the work at hand when a small beeping noise emanated from her console, informing her that the file she was accessing had loaded. Face set in determination, Aelita began working meticulously on the damaged program that lay before her.

* * *

The air was still in the forest. The only sound to be heard was that of a small waterfall emptying itself into a quiet pool surrounding a small island. On the island sat a large white tower covered in a blue mist. The serenity of the scene was disturbed by a dull and menacing rumble. The peaceful azure aura surrounding the tower slowly shifted to a malevolent red hue. Three ripples pulsated through the ground and into the tower. Three block-like creatures emerged from the forest and stepped in front of the small land bridge that led to the isle, guarding it from any intrusion. Another group of rippling pulses filtered into the tower. It was these pulsations that reached the ears of Aelita.

* * *

Jeremy had just arrived in his physical education class when he received the alarm. Hastily pulling his computer out of his bag, Jeremy opened it to find that Aelita was attempting to make contact. A small symbol next to the message told Jeremy all he needed to now.

"Xana!" he muttered, glancing around at the other students, who had by then all arrived ahead of him at the field. '_There's too many people here,_' Jeremy thought in exasperation. He wouldn't be able to reply to Aelita's hail. Thinking quickly, Jeremy initiated a scan for the activated tower before shoving his computer back into his bag and raising his hand. "Uh, Jim?" He asked, attempting to hide the impatience in his voice.

"What is it, Belpois?" The gym teacher asked, clearly annoyed at having been interrupted in the middle of giving instructions.

"Uh, I don't feel too good. Do you mind if I go to the infirmary?"

"Huh! Soon as you get outside you feel sick! That's what happens when you sit behind a desk all day long!" Jim growled disdainfully before waving Jeremy away. "Fine, go to the infirmary - and make it snappy!"

"Uh, will do, Jim!" Jeremy hurried away as the bellicose teacher shook his head in derision before turning to the rest of the class to begin shouting out orders.

* * *

"Uh, Mrs. Hertz?" William called from the back of the storage closet. "Is this what you're looking for?"

He held up a small, complex looking device. He wasn't sure quite what it was. Mrs. Hertz had said something about a power converter, so that might have been it. Mrs. Hertz looked up from where she was digging through the shelves of the closet. She adjusted her glasses as she looked closely at the device.

"Yes, Dunbar, that's it. Now hand it here. I need to see if it works."

William handed the machine to her. Taking it, the older woman bent down to plug it into a nearby electric socket. William leaned against one of the storage shelves. He was in no hurry to return to the classroom. Science wasn't one of his best subjects.

Mrs. Hertz suddenly cried out in shock and fell to the floor, dropping the converter. William jumped up from his position to see if she was alright. He put a hand on the teacher's shoulder.

"Are you alright Mrs. Hertz?" He asked in concern. He had heard how bad electrical shocks could be.

'_I better get her to the infirmary,_' he thought as he started to pick up the unconscious teacher.

Suddenly Mrs. Hertz's body crackled as it pixelated and briefly turned into static. William jumped back in surprise as she stood up, reverting back to her normal appearance, and walked out of the storeroom. William looked briefly at the power converter lying broken on the floor before heading off after the teacher.

* * *

Jeremy was rushing across campus when an all too familiar voice stopped him.

"You, Belpois! Stop this instant!"

It was Mrs. Hertz, the science teacher. Jeremy let out a groan of frustration. What was she doing out in the courtyard anyway? He had thought she had class this time of day. As he turned around to face the irate teacher, he was met with a blast of electricity that flung him across the courtyard.

"AAaaaahhh!" He yelled as he soared through the air before impacting with the vending machine. '_So this is Xana's attack!_' He thought groggily as he tried to get to his feet. He was prevented from doing so by Mrs. Hertz, who went the extra mile of lifting him high in the air before proceeding to electrocute him. He cried out in pain as the current raced through his body. He was on the verge of blacking out when he heard a "Hey!" and was thrown out of Mrs. Hertz's grasp and onto the ground. Clambering to his feet painfully, Jeremy saw a black-haired boy grappling with the Xanafied teacher, trying to subdue her. Needless to say, his efforts were futile, as the irate Xana-possessed Hertz threw the boy off of her. He landed hard on the ground next to Jeremy.

"What's gotten into her?" The boy asked as he cradled his arm. Jeremy looked towards where Mrs. Hertz was stalking towards them. This would definitely require a return to the past for sure.

"No time to explain," Jeremy replied, shaking his head at his rescuer. "We have to get out of here!"

Purple energy crackled from their attacker's hands. Any objections the other boy may have had were quickly wiped away, and they soon ran into the forest. As they sprinted through the forest, Jeremy could tell that the other boy was intentionally slowing his pace to match Jeremy's.

"You're Jeremy Belpois, right?" The boy panted as he jumped over a small log. Jeremy nodded.

"Yep, that's me," he said, inclining his head slightly towards the older boy. "Which means you know who I am, and I have no idea who you are."

"Name's William Dunbar," the raven-haired boy replied. "And a more appreciative tone might be in order considering I just saved your skin from Mrs. Hertz. What's going on anyway?"

Jeremy huffed in annoyance. Just what he needed: someone asking questions. He skidded to a halt beside the manhole cover in the woods. William glanced at Jeremy with a confused look on his face wondering why the younger boy had stopped.

"Shouldn't we keep running?" He asked, not even out of breath Jeremy ruefully noted. Jeremy pointed to the entrance to the sewers.

"Yea, but not up here - down there."

William looked dubiously at the hole. Jeremy rolled his eyes in frustration. Mrs. Hertz was going to get here any second now.

"Would you rather we went another round with Mrs. Hertz?"

William nodded grudgingly. "Fine, but once we get away from her, you're going to tell me what's going on here."

"Fine, when we get to where we're going I'll explain everything!" Jeremy begrudgingly agreed as he climbed down into the tunnel with William following closely after. '_That is if I don't launch a return trip to the past first,_' the blond thought, grabbing his scooter while William closed the manhole cover.

Taking off with William running behind him, Jeremy made his way through sewers and towards the factory. As they reached the ladder leading up to the bridge, Jeremy folded his scooter up and placed it next to Aelita's now dusty one. William pointed to the pink scooter.

"Someone else here?" He asked, eying Jeremy suspiciously. Jeremy just shrugged.

"You could say that," was all he said in response as he climbed up the ladder. William growled softly in frustration as he followed the blond up towards the bridge.

* * *

Aelita sprinted down the path, trees whipping by her on each side. As soon as she had heard the pulsations, she had dropped reprogramming the overwing and tried to contact Jeremy. She had marked the communication request with Xana's symbol to tell the boy that the rogue AI was attacking. She hadn't received any response however. Aelita told herself that Jeremy was probably in class and so couldn't respond, but she still had a nagging feeling of worry for the boy. She pushed herself even harder as she ran through the forest towards the convergence of the pulsations. If only she had completed her work on the overwing she could have reached the tower by now. Every second counted these days.

Aelita gazed into the distance as the pulsations became stronger. '_The Marsh,_' she thought, using the name she had come up with for section five. She had named it "the Marsh" due to the fact that throughout it there was a multitude of pools and springs.

She slowed to a stop once the tower was in sight. Taking cover behind a rock, Aelita carefully peered out from behind it. The tower was situated on an island, the bridge of which was guarded by three bloks. Though she couldn't see any other monsters, Aelita knew very well that there could be others hidden among the trees. She tried to contact Jeremy again.

"Jeremy are you there? I've found the activated tower. Jeremy?"

Aelita began to get worried. By now Jeremy should have been at the factory or at least somewhere he could contact her. Fearing the worst, Aelita began to weigh her options.

* * *

William blocked the entrance to the elevator as Jeremy finished explaining what was going on. William looked at the younger boy dubiously.

"So you're telling me that there's an evil, demonic computer virus that's trying to take over the world and you're the only one who can stop it?"

Jeremy mentally cringed. He needed to get to the elevator and down into the lab but was forced instead to deal with this blockhead first.

"I'll admit when you say it that way it sounds kind of crazy."

"Kind of crazy?" William said, raising an eyebrow. "More like completely nuts!"

Jeremy was beginning to lose his patience. "Look," he pleaded desperately. "We're right here. All we have to do is go down that elevator and you can see for yourself. Unless you want Mrs. Hertz to catch up with us and give us a royal beating instead!"

William still looked dubious but apparently decided to check things out first. He finally shrugged.

"Okay then," he agreed, stepping out of the way of the elevator controls. "I'll check it out, but if this is a joke we're headed straight back to the school and _you_ can explain to the teachers why Mrs. Hertz has gone crazy."

"That won't be necessary," Jeremy assured, opening the elevator door and stepping in. William entered the elevator and stood silently as Jeremy pressed the down button. The old elevator lurched downwards towards the computer lab. Jeremy took note of Williams concerned face as the elevator slowly made its way down.

"Don't worry, it's perfectly safe," Jeremy assured the older boy. William just gave him a glare in return. "It better be," he muttered to himself, though loud enough for Jeremy to hear.

Finally the elevator reached its destination and the doors opened to reveal a complex locking mechanism. Jeremy input the code and the mechanism unlocked and opened to admit Jeremy and William. Jeremy headed straight for the supercomputer's main interface, while William just looked around in awe.

"I guess you weren't joking about the whole supercomputer, then." William admitted as he walked over to where Jeremy was putting on his headset. Jeremy didn't reply however as he was desperately trying to contact Aelita.

"Aelita, are you there? Aelita answer me!"

"Jeremy! You're safe! I thought Xana had gotten to you!" A voice replied as Jeremy let out a breath of relief. Moments later Aelita's face appeared on the screen.

"Wait, Aelita?" William asked, stepping forward to look at the monitor. "As in Aelita Stones?"

William had met Aelita during the techno concert that the school had had earlier in the year. She had helped repair the sound box before discovering her own skills as a DJ.

Aelita looked puzzled at the arrival of the new voice, she appeared to recognize it.

"Jeremy, who's that?" She asked, trying to get a glimpse of William. Jeremy cast a perturbed glance behind him at the older boy before responding to Aelita.

"It's just William, Aelita. He helped me get away from Mrs. Hertz. She was possessed by Xana."

"So that was his attack," Aelita concluded before looking back at Jeremy. "I've found the tower. It's in section five. There are three blocks guarding it, but there may be more monsters. Do you see any on your screen?"

Jeremy scanned over the display on his monitor. "Nope," he answered. "Just three bloks. Be careful all the same though. Three bloks are more than enough to devirtualize you.

* * *

On Lyoko, Aelita gave a slight smile to Jeremy's concerns before reassuring the boy.

"Don't worry, Jeremy, I'll be careful," she replied as she quickly formulated a plan for defeating the bloks. She had to deactivate the tower before Mrs. Hertz could get to the factory and cause any harm.

She vaguely heard Jeremy speaking to someone, but from the sound of it he had moved his microphone away from his mouth so as not to distract her. She could only conclude that he was explaining something to William.

Putting all other thoughts out of her mind, Aelita focused on the three bloks that were preventing her from reaching the tower. She looked to the right of the tower. There was just enough room for her plan to work.

'_Here goes,_' she thought as she steeled herself before darting out into the open, shouting and waving in the direction of Xana's monsters.

"Yoohoo! Over here my little monster friends!" She yelled, winking at the monsters who, as if on cue, whirled around and began to charge towards her.

Once Aelita had reached the opposite side of the tower, she stopped and turned to face the three bloks once they had gotten close enough to one another.

"Aelita what are you doing? Run!?" Jeremy practically yelled in panic. "You know if you're devirtualized it'll be for good!"

"Just trust me!" Aelita pleaded as she faced off against the three creatures. '_Just a little bit closer,_' Aelita thought as one of the bloks stopped and swirled around to charge its freezing eye. As the other two monsters neared her - and each other - Aelita knelt down onto the ground and focused her mind. An angelic singing filled the air as Aelita used her power of creativity to delete the ground in front of the two approaching bloks, just as she was frozen solid by the third. Unable to stop their own momentum, the two bloks stumbled into each other as they fell off the newly made cliff and into the digital sea. Two columns of blue light shot up from the void as the bloks were devirtualized. The third blok swiveled around in confusion for a few seconds as if trying to understand what had just happened to its two brethren. Noticing the frozen elf's still form, the blok began making its way over to the girl. Getting into position in front of her, the blok began to charge its laser. Unfortunately for it, the ice melted and Aelita burst from the ice with a shout, before throwing herself into the blok. The blok's laser hit nothing as Aelita's momentum caused it to tilt precariously on the edge of the rift. Aelita waved gently at the monster, who was trying desperately hard to regain its balance.

"Bye, bye," she announced playfully as she whirled around and kicked the blok with her foot, causing it to fall to a colorful demise in the void below. Aelita looked over the side with a sigh of relief. That had certainly been close. If she had been imprisoned in the ice any longer, she would have been devirtualized for sure.

"Aelita you're the greatest!" Jeremy cheered, relief evident in his voice. "Now get to the tower! You only have twenty life points left!"

Aelita nodded in confirmation as she began to make her way around the hole she had created. '_Guess I'll have to clean this up later,_' she thought as she reached the other side of the rift.

* * *

Jeremy sat back in his chair with a sigh of relief. He had been tense enough between Aelita's death-defying feats and William's constant questioning. He would be glad when this was all over.

William turned from the display screen to look at Jeremy.

"So it's over when Aelita deactivates this tower?" He inquired. Jeremy let out a small sigh. '_Guess the questions aren't over yet,_' he thought ruefully. He was about to answer William when the elevator door began to open. William and Jeremy whirled towards the sound.

"Uh, are you expecting anyone else?" William asked. Jeremy shook his head. "Nope."

"I was afraid you were going to say that," William replied, getting into a defensive stance. Jeremy presumed that William had a good guess as to who was on the other side of the door.

"Uh, Aelita you might want to hurry it along. We have a guest," Jeremy spoke into his headset as the vault door opened and in stepped an irate and Xanafied Mrs. Hertz. Electricity crackled from her hands as she approached the boys.

"Anytime now Aelita," Jeremy shouted in panic before a bolt of energy struck William and him, sending them flying to the other side of the room. Mrs. Hertz walked over to loom above Jeremy, putting her hands together to form a sphere of lightning.

* * *

Aelita frantically ran across the bridge that led to the tower. She willed her legs to move faster as she heard Jeremy cry out in pain. Hitting the island at full speed, Aelita only slowed down briefly to enter the tower.

* * *

Jeremy held his arm in front of him in an attempt to provide some protection against the Xanafied person looming above him. Mrs. Hertz raised the ball of electricity, preparing to send crashing down on the cowering boy in front of her. William got up from where he had collided with the wall only to stumble to his feet, hands gripping his side.

* * *

Aelita ran to the center of the platform, the rings lighting up as she drew near the center. Focusing her mind, Aelita began to levitate towards the upper platform, the tower filling with the sound of its own resonance and that of Aelita's voice.

She flipped in midair to align with the upper platform. Finally arriving, she landed gently on the disk. As she stepped forward, a virtual console appeared in front of her.

She placed her hand on the interface as she silently willed it to process faster. Her name displayed itself on the console: _Aelita__.

'_Yes, yes, I know my name!_' Aelita thought in frustration as the console finally displayed what she was waiting for : _Code_._

* * *

Having apparently decided that the sphere of lightning was charged enough, Mrs. Hertz began to lower the arcing ball of electricity towards Jeremy. His hair stood on end as the deadly, crackling energy grew closer.

* * *

Aelita quickly input the deactivation code onto the panel: _Lyoko__.

The glowing panels of code on the tower walls began to filter away. Aelita sighed in relief as the tower darkened until all that was left was her and the platform she stood on. She didn't know why, but whenever she deactivated a tower she always felt so peaceful - like she was falling asleep. Perhaps it was her connection with Xana at work - she didn't know.

"Tower deactivated," she reported, hoping with all her heart that Jeremy was alright.

* * *

Jeremy looked up in fear as the glowing ball of electricity grew closer. Suddenly Mrs. Hertz let out a cry and the lightning dissipated as the aged teacher fell to the ground. Jeremy could vaguely hear Aelita say, "Tower deactivated". Jeremy nearly collapsed from relief but forced himself to get up and walk to the supercomputer. He looked over to where William was dragging himself to his feet. The older boy looked over at the unconscious teacher with concern.

"She'll be fine. She just passed out, that's all," Jeremy assured as he put on his headset and began to input the coordinates for the return to the past. But first he was going to make sure Aelita knew they were okay.

"Great job, Aelita," he congratulated the girl, who appeared on the screen looking relieved. "We're all fine. I'm going to launch a return trip to the past."

William looked up from Mrs. Hertz to stare at Jeremy in confusion.

"Return trip to the past? What are you talking about Belpois?"

"You'll never know William," Jeremy replied as he pressed the return key. "Return to the past now!"

Light surged upwards through the computer lab's core obliterating everything in its path and then reconstructing the world just as it had been earlier that day. As the light faded, Jeremy found himself in his morning math class with Mrs. Meyers. '_Guess I'm not getting out of P.E. this time,_' he thought as he pretended to pay attention to the lesson he had already sat through.

_The samurai paced in the tower as he waited for the sandstorms to subside. He had gone out once to check and see if the storm had cleared up - only to get a face full of sand. Needless to say he was in no hurry to go back out again. All the same, he was getting pretty tired of standing around doing nothing. If there was one thing he found that he hated most so far - other than giant metal spheres that shot death rays at you or tornadoes that chased after you - it was standing around and doing nothing. The samurai stopped his pacing suddenly. Something had changed. Standing still, the samurai attempted to discover what was different. Then with a flash he realized. The pulsations had stopped. Looking hesitantly towards the tower wall, the warrior pressed his hands into the side of the tower as he made his way through. Sure enough, his theory was true as he stepped out into the blinding light of the sun. As soon as the pulsations had stopped, the sandstorm had subsided. The boy nodded to himself. All he had to do next time the pulsations began was take shelter in a tower. With that, the samurai began walking back out into the desert, determined to discover whatever there was to discover about this strange wasteland._

_The blond-haired hybrid lifted his head as the pulsations stopped. He hadn't bothered getting up. Even after he felt he was fully healed. The snowstorm had taken a lot out of him. Jumping to his feet, the feline tentatively pushed his way out of the tower. He shuddered slightly as he past through the wall. 'Never gonna get used to that,' he thought as he stepped out into the clear air of the tundra. Looking around, he saw no sign that a snowstorm had ever happened. Putting his hands on his hips, the human-cat hybrid surveyed the horizon. 'What to do now,' he thought to himself. Now that the storm had subsided he could either return to the Slippery Slopes (a name he had thought up during his time in the tower for the area he had first arrived in) or continue exploring the icy wilderness that lay before him. He decided on the latter. He was starting to regain his sense of adventure which the snowstorm had so rudely stolen. "Alright then, let's see what you've got," the purple-clad hybrid challenged the glacier covered landscape as he lashed his tail and sped off towards a mountain range in the distance. With any luck, adventure and excitement awaited him among the icy peaks._

_The geisha opened her eyes from her meditation as the pulsations subsided. She listened carefully to the world outside the tower. If her hypothesis was correct then the outside landscape should be fully visible now. Getting to her feet slowly, the geisha began to approach the wall of the tower. Cautiously, she pushed through the barrier. Her feet stepped onto the hard, gray surface of the plateau as she emerged from the tower. She breathed a sigh of relief as she watched the landscape become visible again and the mist recede. She gazed off into the distance towards the tower she had first emerged from. The pulsations had come from somewhere in that direction. She was unsure of why she felt that the pulsations were malevolent but the feeling was nearly overpowering. Slow but determined, the geisha began to make her way back towards the Twin Peaks. She was going to discover the meaning of these pulsations. They held the key to discovering why she was here. She was sure of it._

**Post Story Author's Note: Thank you all for reading and please, please review. Especially if I portray a character OOC. Other than that, thanks again in advance for the reviews and have a nice day.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Author's Note: Sorry for the delay on this chapter. As always, thanks for the reviews and keep them coming.  
**

**Now on with the story...**

_The samurai trudged across the wastelands. This plateau was far larger than the one that held his oasis. Still he had managed to completely survey it and was ready to move onto another region of the desert. He headed west towards the sun. In that direction lay a group of plateaus that seemed to tenuously hover over the abyss below, more so than even the other mesas. At last reaching the edge of the wastes, the samurai contemplated how he would reach the floating desert plateaus. He spotted a land bridge as he scanned the gap between the two landmasses. He had just begun walking towards the stone bridge when a strange metallic clicking noise met his ears. He frowned, puzzled, as he examined his surroundings, attempting to find the source of the noise. The samurai soon found the source of the noise in the form of five small insect-like creatures. He watched them bemused as they continued to hurry towards him. 'Cute,' he thought sardonically. He drew his saber just in case as the creatures came to a halt in front. The samurai's caution was rewarded when a bolt of energy shot from one of the insects' eyes only to be deflected by his sword. 'Better make this fast,' he thought quickly as the other four monsters began charging their own lasers. Mentally triggering his super-speed, the samurai sprang towards the lead insect. "Impact!" He shouted. His sword abruptly gained momentum and slammed through the beast's body. The insect shattered from the force of the blow. The other monsters fired their lasers but were too slow to hit the warrior. The warrior's sword claimed another insect and blocked the attack from its friend. The samurai was suddenly thrown forward from the impact of two lasers hitting his back. Glancing behind him, the samurai quickly darted out of their line of fire. "So you wanna play that way?" He asked the creatures. The insects simply spun around and began to chase after him. "Gonna have to teach you guys some manners!" The samurai retorted as he surged forward arcing his blade so as to slice the two insects in half. "Maybe this'll help." The two insects exploded while their companion came to a halt, hesitant to engage the being who had just slaughtered two more of its brethren. The boy motioned to the insect to bring it on. The creature charged its laser and fired only to have the blast deflected off the samurai's sword and back into itself. The insect stumbled back before shattering. The warrior smirked as he sheathed his sword. "Almost too easy," he quipped as he made his way across the land bridge and onto the plateau beyond._

_The human-cat hybrid raced along the edge of the frozen plateau. He had been heading towards a mountain range in the distance only to encounter an impassable rift. 'Guess I'll have to take the detour,' he had thought before racing off towards the center of the icy realm. He was hoping to find a connection between the two plateaus. Sure enough, his determination was rewarded when in the distance he caught sight of an ice path that wound its way towards the opposing plateau. Banking towards it, the feline felt no hesitation in rushing onto the icy pathway. As he hurled down the path a point ahead of him caught his eye. Skidding to a stop, the feline halted to scrutinize the fork in the path in front of him. Glancing to his left, he could see the snow-covered peaks that he had initially set off for. Gazing to his right, on the other hand, seemed to reveal an extension of the frozen tundra he had just left with perhaps one or two more small mesas. He shrugged to himself. He could always check out the place later. Right now he had some mountains to climb. The hybrid grinned in anticipation as the icy peaks in the distance came closer and closer. When he finally reached the plateau the feline slid to a halt and stood up, placing his hands on his knees and catching his breath. He glanced up at the mountains that loomed over him with a wide grin. The feline could already spot the tell-tale ice caves that were sure to give him a good time. Still, caution warned him to find the tower first - that is if there was a tower nearby. He had no wish to be caught in another snowstorm. He began walking slowly around the imposing mountain looking for both a path up and any signs of a tower._

_The geisha made her way slowly up the mountainside. After climbing for what seemed an eternity, she was nearly at the top. A few minutes later and her hand grasped at the edge of the cliff. Pulling herself over with a grunt, the geisha gazed up at the tower looming in front of her. It was the same as when she had left it. She stared at the imposing structure a while longer, watching as the bluish mist played along its edges. Finally she tore herself away from the sight and walked towards the tower. Hesitating slightly, the geisha took a deep breath before slowly walking through the wall of the structure. She gasped as she passed through the barrier. The geisha walked onto the center of the platform. Nothing seemed different from before when she had first appeared. The geisha knelt down at the edge of the platform and gazed over the side. 'Wouldn't want to fall down there,' she thought grimly, standing up. She surveyed the inside of the tower again, scanning through the various panels of zeros and ones. 'What does all of this mean?' She growled slightly in frustration. For a time the geisha continued to stare at the incomprehensible inscriptions, attempting to make sense of them. She was about to give up when a rumble shook the tower. The pulsations had begun again. Sensing no change in the tower, the geisha quickly ran outside. A ripple pulsated across the ground in front of her as the geisha emerged from her tower. She looked off in the direction the pulsation had come from. It had come from beyond the mountains. She frowned in confusion. What could be beyond the mountains? She walked towards the edge of the peak she was on. Cautiously glancing over the edge the geisha was surprised to see a small, isolated mountain floating in the distance. On the rocky isle was a tower. A tower encompassed in a red mist. Another pulsation issued from the tower even as it began to disappear. Not wishing to be caught out in the open again, the girl quickly made her way back the tower. The mountain beneath her vanished as she passed through the wall once more. Inside the geisha sat down silently in meditation, waiting for the pulsations to pass, determined to investigate the strange red tower._

Jeremy was sitting in biology class with Ms. Hertz, trying not to think of Xana's attack of a few days prior, when his laptop began to beep. He looked down at it blankly for a brief moment before discreetly reaching for it. As he opened the laptop, the alarm silenced, but the display on the screen was far from encouraging. Aelita was attempting to contact him, which alone was a bad sign, as the virtual girl usually avoided contacting him during school hours so as to avoid getting Jeremy into trouble. But her attempt to contact him was not the sole source of his anxiety. On the message was imprinted an Eye of Xana. Jeremy and Aelita had decided that the girl would mark her contacts with the symbol should Xana have activated a tower. Jeremy glanced up at the clock. Ten minutes remained until the end of class. '_Just hold on a little while, Aelita,_' Jeremy thought to himself, suddenly realizing a flaw in their communication strategy. While Aelita was able to warn him about a Xana attack covertly, Jeremy had no way of assuring Aelita that he was alright and not already a victim. '_Guess that'll be that next thing we figure out,_' Jeremy thought, as he glanced up yet again at the clock. Nine minutes were left. The time seemed to drag on forever. Suddenly the electric sockets of the room began to short and spark. Shortly after, they blew outright, startling everyone in the class. Some of his classmates even let out high pitch screams. A huge commotion began to break out as Ms. Hertz tried to quiet down her students.

"Alright now, quiet down! I'm sure it's just a power overload. Nothing to worry about, now get back into your seats, and stay there while I find out what's going on!"

Jeremy's classmates quickly took their seats at Ms. Hertz's harsh tone, while Jeremy took the opportunity to initiate a scan for the activated tower. It would take far longer than the superscan, but it was better than nothing, Jeremy noted ruefully. He was startled away from his computer by a sudden shout from Ms. Hertz. The teacher stumbled away from the door, burn marks on her right hand where she had grabbed the door knob.

'_Xana!_' Jeremy thought as he surveyed the room. No doubt the entire room was rigged with electrical charge, preventing any escape. Jeremy vaguely remembered a previous Xana attack resembling this. The only difference was that back then Xana had attacked the cafeteria and Jeremy had the fortune of leaving before the attack began. It looked like Xana was improving his timing, unfortunately for Jeremy.

Jeremy surveyed the general pandemonium that ensued from the discovery of the electrified doorknob before glancing back down at his laptop. He needed to find somewhere he could contact Aelita without suspicion. If he played this right, then a return to the past would not be necessary. Jeremy looked back over to Ms. Hertz, who was being helped up by two of Jeremy's classmates. The teacher got to her feet slowly, holding her burnt hand gingerly. The classroom was full of speculation, with everything from a massive short circuit to aliens being proposed. Jeremy shook his head in exasperation. He had witnessed many such scenes before in previous Xana attacks, though this reaction was rather mild compared to some of the others he had seen.

A cry of pain from the other side of the classroom drew Jeremy's, and everyone else's, attention. A boy, Nicolas, Jeremy thought his name was, had attempted to open one of the many windows of the classroom. He had been met by a hefty electrical shock and was now lying passed out on the floor. What had been a mild commotion broke out into full-blown chaos, as the students slowly realized that they were trapped in an electrified room.

'_Now's my chance!_' Jeremy thought as he saw Ms. Hertz pull out her cell phone and begin dialing a number, presumably that of one of the maintenance workers, while the classroom gradually became more and more panicked. Using the distraction of the classroom and Ms. Hertz, Jeremy sat down on the farthest side of the teacher's desk, almost out of sight to the entire commotion. He hastily re-opened his laptop and verified the connection to the supercomputer and Aelita, all the while making sure the volume was at a level that would not be heard by the others.

After a few tense seconds, the familiar face of Aelita appeared on the screen. She was wearing an expression of concern that quickly melted into one of relief.

"Jeremy! You're all right! Why didn't you answer me earlier?"

Jeremy glanced around the classroom cautiously before responding to the pinkette.

"I haven't been able to leave the school. Xana's electrified the exits to my classroom. I can't get to the supercomputer!"

Aelita's face creased with worry once more, but also with determination.

"Are you alright?" She asked, clearly concerned for his safety, although Jeremy was more worried about hers, without him at the supercomputer, Aelita would have to rely on her senses and instinct alone to avoid Xana's monsters.

"I'm fine," Jeremy nodded, glancing at a small app that had just begun to beep. "Listen, you have to get to the activated tower. The scan indicates that the one activated is Tower 3."

The elf nodded in response. "The Eastern Forest, I'm on it, Jeremy." Before the young elf could leave for the tower, however, Jeremy stopped her.

"Aelita?" He said, voice nearly cracking out of anxiety, he did not want to see anything bad happen to his friend.

"Yes, Jeremy?"

"Be careful, OK?"

"OK, Jeremy," Aelita assured him with a small smile. "Don't worry, it'll all turn out fine, just as always."

With that, Aelita broke the connection, and Jeremy looked up from his laptop to survey the classroom. Things had calmed down by now, and it appeared that there were some teachers trying to open up the room from the outside. Jeremy knew that their attempts would be futile. He thought about Aelita's last words, as she had tried to assure him. 'It'll all turn out fine, just as always.'

"I hope so, Aelita," Jeremy sighed to himself. "I hope so."

* * *

Aelita let out a small gasp as the walls of the tower rippled around her and she stepped out into the misted light of Lyoko. She was currently in the Western Forest, meaning she would have to cross the entire width of Lyoko. Fortunately for her, the breadth of Lyoko was smaller than its length. As Aelita set off running into the surrounding forest, she could not help but think that this was yet another situation which would be alleviated by a vehicle. Fortunately, she was almost done with the overwing, which lay in her personal database being debugged. She had worked on the vehicle program during her free time, that is to say, when she and Jeremy were not working on recreating the superscan and various other critical programs. Of course, not to say that this was all she did while Jeremy was away. Despite no longer being on Earth, Aelita had decided to continue her studies, especially in history and biology, two subjects that were rather alien to Lyoko. And there was always the task of monitoring Lyoko, as well. Sometimes she would spend a good hour or so walking through the twisted paths of the virtual forest, either watchful for an activated tower or simply enjoying the scenery. As much as she liked Earth, Aelita had to admit that Lyoko would always hold a special place in her heart.

She started to feel the pulsations before she saw them as she reached the plateau adjacent to the Western Forest. Picking up her pace, Aelita rounded the mountainous geographical feature that lay in the center of section ten. As she came closer to the activated tower, Aelita could sense the pulsations becoming stronger as well. If she listened just hard enough, she could even distinguish the three separate pulses that always rippled together to form the intense thrumming sound.

Finally reaching the other side of the small mountain, Aelita encountered a path that forked out from the plateau. Without hesitation, Aelita took the path to the left. Lyoko was her home and she knew its forests like the back of her hand, metaphorically speaking of course.

The young elf pushed herself even harder as she neared the Eastern Forest. There was no telling what shape Jeremy could be in right now, and she lacked the time to stop and find out. All she knew right now was that her best, and pretty much only, friend was in danger. Despite her confident words to Jeremy earlier, Aelita still wondered how long they could keep this up. So far they had been unimaginably lucky. Given her experience with luck, however, Aelita knew that it would one day run out.

The pulsations grew stronger as she neared their destination. The tower cam into sight as she ran across the forested plateau. Coming to a halt a distance away from the tower, Aelita took cover behind a rock in order to survey the situation. Peeking around the rock, Aelita counted six bloks guarding the tower. '_Now would be a really good time for a vehicle,_' Aelita thought grimly as she surveyed the scene. There were far to many bloks for her to take on. At least too many for her to take on by herself, at least.

"Jeremy, are you there?"

The pink-haired elf waited for an answer, but none came. She began to grow worried. Without Jeremy's help, she would not be able to implement her plan. She gathered a virtual, even if unnecessary breath, and called Jeremy's name once more. Hopefully, she had not been too late arriving at the tower.

* * *

Jeremy looked out from behind the desk to watch as a team of firefighters attempted to break through the door of the classroom. From what he had heard while listening to Ms. Herz's conversation on her cell phone, the firefighters had already tried cutting the power and even cutting through the roof. Needless to say, they had been less than successful. He turned back to his laptop, but before he could attempt to contact Aelita again, Ms. Hertz called the class to attention.

"Alright, quiet down and listen! The firefighters are going to try to break through the windows. Everyone come to this side of the room, move it!"

Jeremy pressed against the desk, hoping not to be noticed. He knew he would be safe enough. No one was going to be able to get into or out of the classroom while the tower was activated. Unfortunately, no one else knew this, and Ms. Hertz had a keen eye.

"That means you too, Belpois! Get moving!"

Jeremy groaned in frustration as he got up, putting his laptop back into his bag in the process. At this rate he would never be able to make contact with Aelita! It was already bad enough that reaching the factory was out of the question, now he lacked even the ability to contact Aelita discreetly. Perhaps once the firefighters gave up with their attempt at breaking the windows, he would be able to find a relatively secluded place again.

'_Just hold on a little longer, Aelita!_' Jeremy thought desperately as Ms. Hertz gave the signal for the firefighters standing outside the window to begin. The rescue workers quickly took a couple of heavy sledgehammers to the windows, having apparently learned from their failed attempt at breaking down the door. As Jeremy watch impatiently for the firefighters to give up, a small cracking noise caught his attention. Looking up, Jeremy saw cracks beginning to form in the ceiling. A particular cluster of cracks was beginning to form over a group of students.

"Look out!" Jeremy yelled even as the cracking grew more pronounced and the roof above the three students began to crumble. They barely made it out of the way before pieces of the ceiling slammed onto the floor they had been standing on.

"Everyone! Start stacking the desks together! We need to make a shelter to avoid the debris!" Jeremy instructed his classmates. If he could not help Aelita, then he would just have to content himself with helping out his fellow schoolmates. The other kids stared blankly at Jeremy for a while, no doubt unused to such a commanding voice coming from him. Unsurprisingly, Ms. Hertz took over from there.

"You heard him, get those desks together! Put them in the center of the classroom!"

At the authoritative sound of her voice, the other teens began to hastily move their desks together in order to form a more effective shelter against the debris that was rapidly beginning to fall more frequently. Jeremy did what he could to organize the makeshift shelter, but lifting desks of any size was not exactly in his ballpark. As the crude shelter began to take shape, even as the ceiling became more and more unstable, Jeremy's thoughts strayed to Aelita. She was on Lyoko, alone without any support. He fervently hoped that she was alright. She had to be.

* * *

Aelita's eyes narrowed with determination. She was unable to contact Jeremy. She was on her own. Steeling herself once more, Aelita glanced around the corner of the boulder. A seventh cube had joined the already large contingent. Since plan A was out the window, she would have to rely on her wits and agility to reach the tower. '_Plan B then,_' the girl thought to herself, as she braced herself to dart out from behind her cover. She eyed the surrounding landscape. It would just barely do.

'_Here goes nothing!_'

Aelita darted out from behind the boulder. This time, she had no need to yell and shout to get the bloks' attention. As soon as she revealed herself, three of them broke off from the tower in pursuit. Racing away from the tower onto one of the wider pathways, Aelita glanced behind her to make sure the bloks were still in pursuit. Fortunately they were. They were also starting to line up parallel to each other as they neared. '_Perfect,_' she thought to herself as she located a large nearby log. Quickly taking shelter behind the fallen tree, Aelita knelt down on the ground and focused on one of the towering trees that overshadowed the path. An angelic singing filled the virtual air as Aelita used her power of creativity to delete a portion of a tree that stood just next to the path of the three bloks. Unaware of their peril, the bloks continued to charge forward until a massive crash signified their quick, and violent, devirtualization. Aelita got to her feet slowly. Fortunately, the effort involved in felling the tree took little out of her. Still, with four bloks remaining, she would need to use her power cautiously.

Taking a running leap over the fallen tree, Aelita made her way quickly back towards the tower. Her sprint was prematurely cut off by a volley of lasers impacting the ground in front of her. She growled in frustration, clenching her fists as the remaining bloks positioned themselves in front of the tower. She had no time for this! Jeremy was in danger and the _only_ thing that would save him was her deactivating the tower in time. As the bloks began making their way towards her, Aelita changed her mind about discretionary use of her ability. Holding her hand out in front of her and concentrating, Aelita materialized several rocks above the unsuspecting monsters. With just as violent a crash as the previously felled tree, the boulders shattered the bloks into a flurry of pixels.

Aelita fell to her knees, weakened by the effort. The pinkette made a note to herself to practice her creativity so that in the future she would not have to put so much effort into each mantra. Pushing herself up, Aelita began making her way as quickly as she could towards the activated tower.

* * *

Jeremy crouched under the makeshift desk structure along with the rest of his class. As expected, any attempt from the outside to enter was futile. Clutching his computer, Jeremy hoped that Aelita would be able to deactivate the tower in time. Jeremy flinched slightly as a piece of the ceiling crashed on top of the tower of desks. He noted grimly that some of the desks were beginning to break under the pressure of the rapidly collapsing roof. '_Of course Xana had to attack us in the oldest building in Kadic!_' Jeremy thought in grim exasperation. The old science building was composed of more brick, metal, and mortar than the other buildings at Kadic. Jeremy's thoughts strayed back to Aelita.

'_Please hurry, Aelita,_' He thought as he silently willed good luck to the girl. '_We're not going to last for much longer._'

* * *

Aelita finally reached the base of the tower. With a sudden, determined burst of speed, Aelita ran through the wall of the structure, shooting onto the platform. She stumbled to a halt before focusing her mind and levitating up towards the second platform. The tower began to resonate as she gently performed a back-flip to align with the upper platform.

* * *

Jeremy jerked back as a piece of rebar shattered the front half of the desk he was currently under. A few screams and shouts from his fellow students temporarily deafened him as he covered his head with his hands.

* * *

Aelita floated gently onto the upper platform, stepping forward and triggering the interface. Placing her hand on the screen, Aelita tried to be patient as it displayed her name and proceeded to ask her for the code that would deactivate the tower. Pressing her hand against the interface, Aelita entered the code: _Lyoko_.

"Tower deactivated," she intoned, the tower falling dark as the panels of binary code fell into the dark depths of the structure. Now if only she had deactivated it in time.

* * *

Jeremy practically slammed open the door to his dorm room. As soon as the classroom had stopped falling apart and the walls, door, and windows had ceased to be electrified, the teachers had called a halt to school for the day. They would, of course, wonder over the cause of the incident, but Jeremy was not concerned about them. Rather, he was concerned about the virtual girl who remained on Lyoko. As the attack had ceased, Jeremy knew that Aelita was alright. She, however, did not know he was alright, and Jeremy wanted to make sure that she knew her efforts had not been in vain.

Shutting the door as equally fast, Jeremy quickly took his seat in front of his computer, hastily putting on his headphones and calling out to his friend.

"Aelita! Are you there, Aelita!?"

"Jeremy! You're okay!" Aelita's relieved voice sounded as her face appeared in the screen's dialogue box. Her face looked beyond relieved.

"Yeah, I'm alright," Jeremy responded, adjusting his headphones slightly. "Sorry I wasn't able to contact you earlier. After the roof started collapsing, I couldn't find a safe place to make contact."

"Well the important thing is that you're okay and Xana was stopped."

Jeremy smiled at the pinkette's optimism, she always could see the bright side of things.

"Did you have any problems with Xana's monsters?" Jeremy asked, curious about the elf's exploits.

"Oh-no, no problem at all," Aelita replied, almost carelessly. "We had a smashing time."

Jeremy just looked at the pinkette blankly, as she giggled at his confusion. She quickly sobered up a few moments later.

"Still, next time I might not be so lucky," Aelita warned ominously. "If we're going to get anywhere, we need some help."

"But from where?" Jeremy sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "Anyone we told would probably think we're crazy or report us to the authorities. It's happened every time."

"Not every time," Aelita countered. "William seemed pretty helpful last time."

Jeremy glanced back up to Aelita, pondering her words. It was true that the older boy had been helpful, but he had also been rather cocky and full of himself. Dangerous traits as far as Jeremy was concerned. Focusing back on Aelita, Jeremy found the pinkette looking at him expectantly. He sighed to himself.

"Let's wait and see what happens. I'll see if I can't get to know William better. No promises though."

"No promises needed," Aelita assured, smiling at the young genius before adding promptly. "Now, don't we have some programs to work on?"

Jeremy chuckled at the girl's enthusiasm. "We sure do," he replied, as he settled down to continue recoding the superscan.

_The samurai cautiously exited the tower. He had just come to what had appeared to be the center of the floating mass of plateaus he was currently exploring when the pulsations had begun. Fortunately for him, he had been near one of the mysterious towers. The samurai rolled his shoulders in anticipation as he began to walk away from the tower. After spending who knows how long cooped up in that tower, the brunette was more than ready to take on the scorching sands of the desert and the creatures that inhabited it. Before he got out of visual range of the tower, the warrior came to a halt as a strange whirring sound reached his ears. Turning to look behind him, he noticed two block-like creatures charging in his direction. The samurai smirked slightly at his new foes, readying his sword. 'Haven't seen you guys before,' he thought. 'Let's see what you've got!' He quickly drew his sword as the two creatures stopped, whirling their bodies around before finally setting one of their eyes on him. The samurai tensed as energy built up in their eyes. He quickly deflected the first volley of lasers. Racing forward, the samurai jumped onto the top of the nearest cube. 'Too easy,' he thought as he shouted "Impact!" and destroyed the cube with a stab to one of its eye. He landed on the ground a distance away from the other cube. He prepared to sprint forward again when the blok suddenly whirled itself around and began shooting rings of fire at him. "Whoa!" He shouted in surprise as he jumped through the deadly rings. Hitting the ground, the samurai rolled underneath the fire rings. He climbed to his feet in front of the blok. Not giving the blok another chance to fire, the samurai lunged forward, plunging his sword deep into the monsters core. He covered his face as the beast exploded. "Well that was...interesting," the boy muttered as he picked up and sheathed his sword._

_"Wooohoooo!" The hybrid yelled as he slid through the ice tunnels that led away from the tower he had taken shelter in. He had just barely found the hidden structure after wandering about the mountain for a while. In the end, the storm that had accompanied the mysterious pulsations had helped him by blowing him into an ice cave that lay on the top of the small mountain. It was there he had discovered the tower...and the ice tunnels that faithfully accompanied the icy cavern. Once the pulsations had ended, the feline had wasted no time in getting his adrenaline going (yet another strange word he figured he just made up). The feline braced himself as a light appeared at the end of the slippery tunnel. Somehow managing to get to his feet, albeit with his paws on the ice in front of him, the hybrid boosted an already soaring jump with one of his own. He yelled in excitement as he flipped through the air before skidding gracefully to a stop on the icy plains below. Panting in exhilaration, the hybrid surveyed his surroundings, looking eagerly for new places to explore and more tunnels to slide through._

_The geisha opened her eyes as the pulsations finally stopped. They had persisted longer this time. Climbing to her feet, the raven-haired girl gracefully exited the sheltering tower. She walked towards the cliff-side of the mountain. Glancing over, the geisha spotted the tower she had seen earlier. The tower still glowed a malevolent red as it stood menacingly on the lone peak floating in the distance. The pulsations, however, no longer emitted from its ominous form. Looking closer, the geisha noticed a pathway of sorts between the Twin Peaks and the mysterious floating mountain. She made her way down slowly to the bottom of the two mountains. Although smooth in appearance from a distance, the mountainside was more than rugged enough for the girl to find handholds. When she finally reached the bottom, she stared out over the daunting distance. Walking to the edge, she gently kicked a small pebble over the side. The small stone plummeted out of sight into the strange sea below. The geisha gulped slightly as she looked back up to the ragged pathway of stepping stone rocks. One wrong move and she was history. Steeling herself with determination and focus, the geisha began to make her way across the void, leaping from rock to rock. As she neared the lone mountain, the geisha could make out more details. The red tower rested in a sort of crevice on the mountainside, the mountain towering over everything, even the massive tower. Distracted by the sight, the geisha mistimed one of her jumps. In panic she found herself headed towards an untimely end in the seas below. Thinking fast, she refocused her mind and sped up the floating rock in front of her. It moved ever so slightly quicker but it was enough. The geisha managed to grab the side of the rocky platform with both of her hands. She grunted in exertion as she pulled herself up. 'Too close!' She chastised herself before continuing her journey across the chasm._


	5. Chapter 5

**Author's Note: I know I've said it before, but sorry for the delay in posting. I had planned to have this done a week ago but wasn't sure how to proceed. Anyways, here it is, hope you enjoy, and please review.**

**Now on with the story...**

_The samurai sat on a rock, idly carving a map into the hard ground with his saber. At first he had worried about dulling the blade, but it showed no sign of losing its edge. He had finally finished a thorough exploration of the Floating Plains, something he had neglected to do for the Eastern Wastes and even his own oasis. He was currently resting in a small valley on one of the other plateaus. He finished carving the last detail onto the map. He glanced somewhat discontentedly at the blank areas of the previous plateaus he had visited as well as the one he was on. Valley Plateau he called it. A strange name but apt given the plateau was riddled with an assortment of valleys. Having a brief flash of inspiration, the warrior drew some small symbols depicting the names of the different plateaus and what kind of creatures he had encountered. 'Let's see,' he thought to himself. 'Iron sphere in the Eastern Wastes, nothing yet at the oasis, roaches and blocks - lots of them - on the Floating Plains, and nothing here yet.' He surveyed his map again, this time with more satisfaction. The desert lacked the emptiness it had before, instead being populated by various creatures. Despite the fact that the monsters were all hostile, it made the warrior feel not quite as alone. He shook his head. There was no use in getting sentimental - he had an entire plateau to explore, and judging by the bountiful valleys and crevices there was going to be more than a few monsters. Pressing his hands onto his knees, the boy stood up with grunt, readied his sword, and set out into the swirling sands of the desert._

_The human-feline hybrid grunted slightly as he leapt for one of the nearby columns of ice. Pulling himself over the slippery edge, the boy looked down at his progress. He had nearly made it all the way up the column-like staircase. Looking over the icy landscape, the hybrid could vaguely see in the distance the Flurry Peaks and the Snowy Plains. The Slippery Slopes, where he had first appeared, was out of sight, however. He had slid, ran, and even fought his way through the plateaus and now found himself exploring a new one. He was currently looking for a nearby tower___ just in case of another blizzard_. He was pretty sure by now that each plateau had one. He was not in a rush, however. Ever since the first few storms, the tundra seemed to have calmed down, which was just as well as far as he was concerned - more time for exploring and sliding through ice tunnels. The feline turned away from the view and leaped onto the next column. 'Yep, gonna call this place Ice Columns if there's nothing else here!' He thought to himself as he finally reached the top of the glacier. A familiar whirring sound suddenly greeted his ear. Turning away from the cliff-side, the feline found himself face to face with three bloks. The blond smiled cockily. "Well, well, if it isn't the welcoming committee! Happy to see me guys!" The bloks responded by whirring once more and charging their lasers. The feline dived out of the way of the first volley. "Hey, that's no way to treat guests!" He chastised mockingly, simultaneously cocking his laser arrows. Dodging the second wave, the feline let out a volley of his own as he dived, striking dead center on the closest blok. The feline stood daringly in front of the other two monsters, who looked temporarily confused at the loss of their counterpart. The nearest one, having gotten over its ally's devirtualization, whirled around and charged its second eye. What happened next was something the feline was not prepared for. In rapid succession, rings of fire began to shoot from the blok. Caught off guard, the hybrid instinctively crossed his arms for protection, closing his eyes. Instead of the searing pain of flames, all he heard was a crackling. Opening his eyes, the feline was shocked to see an energy barrier had formed when he had crossed his arms. "Sweet," he smirked, eying the bloks cockily._

_The geisha placed down the well-worn rock she held in her hand as she stepped back to evaluate her work. Ever since she had returned from the Lonely Peak she had been working on mapping and cataloging wherever she had been. The cartouches she carved, immune to wear, would serve as both landmarks and a valuable source of information. She looked out away from the nearby tower and towards her next destination. From where she stood, it appeared to be a massive mesa of some sort. Deciding she had stayed long enough in the Peaks of Isolation as she had taken to calling them, the geisha began to make her way towards the large land-form. Walking along the edge of the plateau, or as close to it as she dared, the girl pondered how to reach the mesa. She had long since realized that paths were hard to come by, and when they were found were often twisty and windy. Narrowing her eyes, the geisha was finally able to make out such a path in the mist. From what she could tell, the path led towards the mesa, of course her eyes could be deceiving her. Also, she reminded herself, it did not particularly matter if she reached her desired destination, as it would be just as unknown to her as anywhere else she might end up. Still, the mesa was certainly an obvious landmark and heading for it would be preferable. Checking her bladed fans, the geisha wore a look of determination as she headed off into the misted unknowns of the mountains._

Jeremy looked ponderously across the courtyard at the older, raven-haired boy casually leaning against one of the benches. He seemed to be currently hitting on a few nearby girls.

"Well?" A voice just below his head sounded. He turned his gaze down to his computer screen, where the face of Aelita gazed back up at him, waiting for an answer. Jeremy took a breath before responding.

"Well, what?" Jeremy asked, although he knew very well what the pinkette was asking about. A small flash of annoyance flitted across the elf's face.

"Well aren't you going to ask him?" She clarified impatiently. Jeremy could imagine her crossing her arms and leaning her hips to one side.

"I just...I...I mean shouldn't we wait a little longer?" Jeremy replied, hesitant to reveal his and Aelita's secret to William.

"No, Jeremy, we've waited long enough," Aelita reprimanded, annoyance at the boy becoming more clear on her face. "He's proven himself more than once already. Why last week he saved you from your Xanafied class. And we didn't even have to do a return to the past."

"Yea, because he got knocked out and thought it was a dream," Jeremy contradicted, although he changed his tone as Aelita gave him a pointed glare. "Alright, you win. I'll go talk to him. But it's not my fault if things go south."

Aelita rolled her eyes gently, with a knowing look, as Jeremy closed his laptop and walked over to where William stood, the group of girls having just left him. William looked over and caught sight of Jeremy heading towards him.

"Hey Jeremy," William greeted Jeremy. Over the last week or so, Jeremy had made an effort to at least become acquainted with the older student. "Thanks again for your help on my physics exam. I'm surprised you haven't skipped a grade yet."

"I have," Jeremy replied before adding pointedly. "Besides, its the least I could do after you saved me from that zombified class of mine."

"W-what!?" William stammered rather uncharacteristically as he was caught off guard by Jeremy's words. He recovered quickly, however. "What are you talking about? Have you lost it?"

Jeremy shook his head, partly smirking and partly grimacing. He was not, however, in the mood for beating around the bush. Not when it came to something like this.

"Come on, William," Jeremy retorted, attempting to hold back a brief flash of impatience as he continued. "Surely you weren't hit on the head that hard? And it was only last week that it happened, too, so don't bother acting like it didn't happen."

"Whatever," William shot back, irritation beginning to rise in his voice. "I don't know how you found out about that dream I had, but this isn't funny."

"I completely agree, it is not funny at all," Jeremy replied matter-of-factly, causing William to shoot him a puzzled glance. "And I can assure you it was no dream. You want proof? I can show you proof."

"Like what," William snorted derisively, crossing his arms. "Some zombies?"

Jeremy shrugged, allowing himself a small smirk. "Not so much the zombies as what caused them to become zombies."

"And that would be?" William inquired, raising an eye dubiously. Jeremy could tell he had gotten the older boy's attention, however. It was clear that William remembered his 'dream' more vividly than he would care to admit.

Jeremy took a deep breath before answering William's question. He hoped silently that he could phrase the answer right.

"A supercomputer," Jeremy finally answered before elaborating. "Specifically a _quantum_ supercomputer built by a man named Franz Hopper. Why he built it and what's it for, we don't know. All we know is that it's home to a rather nasty and homicidal multi-agent computer program. That's what zombified my class."

William stood silent for a few moments, seemingly debating about how long he should play along with Jeremy before calling some psychologists.

"I guess you have proof of all this?" He asked finally. Jeremy let out a small sigh of relief and nodded to William. Showing William the supercomputer - and Aelita - would surely convince him of the reality of the situation. All that Jeremy would have to do after that was convince the older boy to help them. A task Jeremy was not looking forward to.

"And where is this proof of yours?"

"Follow me," Jeremy answered, pivoting around and heading for the sewer entrance in the forest. "And bring your skateboard. It'll help us get to our destination faster."

"And that would be?" William asked, picking up his skateboard and reluctantly following Jeremy.

"I'd rather I take you there instead of revealing its location," Jeremy maintained as he continued his way to the school's forest. "We've kept it a secret this long, and I'm not about to risk breaking that streak just because we need help."

"Whose we?" William asked, effortlessly catching up to Jeremy, somewhat to the young genius' annoyance. "And why do you need my help?"

"_We_ would be Aelita and me, and we need your help because we need an edge if we're going to beat Xana, the multi-agent program I told you about earlier, and just us by ourselves is not going to cut it."

"So you need help," William reasoned, the two drawing closer to the entrance to the sewers. "What made you choose me?"

"Well for one, you've helped us out before - and not just the time with the zombies - not that you'd remember - and two, Aelita feels that your - how do I put - rebellious attitude means that you won't rat on us to the teachers or the police or the secret service or whatever."

"Well why don't you tell the authorities? I mean if this 'Zana' is as dangerous as you say he is?"

The two had finally reached the manhole cover that lay in the middle of the woods. Halting, Jeremy stooped down to remove the manhole cover.

"It's complicated. I'll fill you in on the ride to where we're going ."

"Are we going down there?" William asked, pointing to the now-open manhole Jeremy was climbing into. Jeremy shrugged slightly before responding.

"Well yeah, it's how we're getting to the factory," Jeremy replied before adding authoritatively. "Don't forget to replace the manhole cover after you've come down."

With that Jeremy descended into the sewers, not giving William the chance to ask anymore questions. Once he reached the bottom, Jeremy grabbed his scooter and waited while William climbed down the ladder. The older boy jumped off the third or so rung and landed on the floor. Jeremy unfolded his scooter and placed it on the floor.

"Alright then, let's get going and I'll finish my explanation on the way."

Without waiting for an answer, Jeremy sped off, his scooter soon accompanied by William's skateboard. Once the older boy was beside him, he spoke.

"Okay, abridged version of it all: a little over a year ago I discovered the supercomputer in an old abandoned factory. I was looking for some spare parts but found something much cooler. I activated it and that's when I discovered Aelita."

William raised an eyebrow questioningly but Jeremy held up a hand to stop him from talking.

"Aelita is originally from Lyoko, the virtual world housed in the supercomputer. As far as we can tell she was designed to be its guardian. That means that she's the only one who can deactivate the towers on Lyoko. Xana uses these towers to access the supercomputer's full power and launch attacks on the real world. In the beginning his attacks were small and trivial, Aelita did fine on her own while I tried to find a way to materialize her into the real world, which can be done via scanners that Franz Hopper created. You getting all this?"

William nodded as he and Jeremy leapt over a small set of stairs in the sewers. Recovering from the jump, Jeremy continued his explanation.

"Anyways, I eventually managed to materialize Aelita. We tried to turn off the supercomputer but Xana had put a virus in Aelita that would kill her if the supercomputer was deactivated for too long. Since then we've been trying to cure Aelita. Unfortunately Xana's attacks have been becoming more and more powerful."

The two boys finally arrived at the ladder that would lead up to the factory. Jeremy spared a brief glance at Aelita's scooter. How he longed to have her back in this world with Xana defeated. Jeremy propped his scooter next to hers and William did likewise with his skateboard.

"Any questions before we go on?" Jeremy asked, turning towards the older boy.

William ran his hands through his hair and let out a deep breath before replying.

"Okay, let me see if I got this straight. You're saying you found a supercomputer and inside it was Aelita and some evil program named Zana. You...materialized...Aelita but this Zana put some bug in her so that she dies if you deactivate him?"

"Well that's an extremely simplified version of it but accurate I suppose."

"And you need my help why again? It sounds like this has to do with computers and what-not."

"It does," Jeremy nodded. "However we don't need you out here, we need you on Lyoko."

"You mean the virtual world Aelita is from? How am I supposed to get there?"

"The same way Aelita does - the scanners," Jeremy replied. "I'll scan a virtual image of you and then you'll be transferred to Lyoko."

"And what am I supposed to do there exactly?"

"Well Xana has these programs - monsters you could call them - that guard the towers he has activated. So far Aelita has been able to avoid them but it's been getting harder and harder."

"And you need someone to take them down?" William asked bluntly. Jeremy shrugged.

"Pretty much."

"Alright, sounds fun enough, show me this supercomputer of yours then."

"Right this way," Jeremy announced as he climbed up the ladder. The older boy followed Jeremy closely behind him. Jeremy pulled himself onto the surface of the bridge and waited for William to climb up before replacing the manhole cover with a grunt.

"Looks like you could also use me to move manhole covers too," William joked, clearly referring to Jeremy's near-pitiful strength.

"Ha, ha, very funny," Jeremy drawled, turning towards the entrance to the factory and walking briskly away. "Hurry up now, we don't want to keep Aelita waiting!" He called over his shoulder to William.

"Alright, alright, no need to be pushy," William retorted as he easily caught up with Jeremy.

When Jeremy reached the ledge that overlooked the elevator, he jumped forward and grabbed one of the hanging ropes and swung down onto the level below, skidding to a stop before releasing the rope. William followed shortly after, landing gracefully on the floor compared to Jeremy's somewhat clumsy skid across the concrete surface.

Straightening himself, Jeremy pressed the button that would open the elevator door. Stepping inside, while motioning for William to do the same, Jeremy decided to test William's resolve once more.

"You know you if you decide to help us, that'll mean you have to keep all of this secret, right? You can't tell anyone, and I mean _anyone_ \- not without Aelita's and my consent, at least."

"Yeah, yeah, I get it," William waved off casually. "Don't worry, I'm not one to snitch."

"Good, because every time someone else finds out our secret, I'll have to initiate a return trip to the past." Jeremy replied casually, waiting to see the older boy's reaction.

"A return trip to the what now?" William asked, glancing incredulously at the younger boy next to him. Jeremy resisted the urge to smirk at his surprise.

"You heard me," Jeremy enunciated. "It's one of the supercomputers capabilities as an advanced quantum computer. In the beginning we used it after every Xana attack, but that was before we discovered that each return trip only made him stronger. Needless to say, we try and use them as sparingly as possible these days. Their also the reason why you don't remember helping us before my zombified class- you were knocked out that time and we figured we could get away with letting you think it was a dream."

"Uh, huh," William affirmed, looking somewhat doubtful. Fortunately for Jeremy, the elevator reached the main computer lab, and William was able to get a full look at the supercomputer. Like his last visit there, William gawked at the advanced technological marvel, while Jeremy took his seat at the monitor, placing his headset over his ears as he sat down.

"Huh, guess you weren't kidding, then," William announced as he walked over to where Jeremy was positioned. Instead of Jeremy replying, a new voice joined the conversation.

"No, he wasn't," Aelita confirmed from within the supercomputer. "And besides, Jeremy's not that good with jokes - I'm still working on him with that."

Aelita winked slightly at Jeremy, while William looked down startled at the virtual elf's image.

"Aelita? Is that you?" William asked staring at the screen incredulously. Aelita put a hand to her cheek as she giggled slightly at the older boy's expression.

"Yes it's me, William. I'm on Lyoko," Aelita replied to William's inquiry. William looked as if he was about to ask another question, but Jeremy beat him to the punch, interrupting him before he could speak.

"OK, now that the introductions are over, let's get a move on, shall we?" Jeremy declared, having finished entering the necessary code for William's virtualization.

"Move on with what?" William asked, briefly caught off guard by Jeremy's abruptness. Jeremy let out a small sigh of exasperation.

"Why with your scanning and virtualization of course! The sooner the better," Jeremy replied, getting up from his place at the computer, removing his headset in the process, and walking towards the elevator. Reaching the elevator, Jeremy turned around to face William.

"Unless you've changed your mind, of course."

"Uh-uh, no way," William retorted, walking briskly into the elevator along side Jeremy. "I'm game."

"Well then you'd better get ready," Jeremy asserted as he pressed the descent button once more and the elevator lurched downwards. "Because fighting Xana is no game."

When the elevator door opened, the two boys were greeted with the sight of the three towering scanners. One of the boys had never seen them before, while the other hardly had a reason to see them nowadays.

"So are these those 'scanners' you were talking about?" William asked, placing his hand on the outer casing of one of the closed scanners. Jeremy nodded his head before gesturing to the open scanner.

"Yep and this one's just for you. Step in and I'll signal Aelita to begin the scanning process."

William walked with determination into the scanner. His expression became a fraction more concerned as he turned around in the scanner to face Jeremy.

"Will it hurt?" William frowned, slightly anxious.

"It shouldn't. Didn't hurt for me at least." The boy genius replied, shrugging. William looked at the younger boy in surprise.

"You've been virtualized before?"

"Yep, but Lyoko wasn't really my thing. I'm better behind a keyboard. Now get ready to be scanned." Jeremy responded before giving Aelita the go-ahead to begin the virtualization process. As the scanner closed on William and began to initialize the scan, Jeremy returned to the computer lab to monitor the progress of the supercomputer in its scanning and digitalizing of William.

Taking his seat once more at the computer's interface, Jeremy watched as a third identification card was added to his and Aelita's. He glanced at his briefly before shuddering. '_Maybe I should just remove it,_' he thought to himself, grimacing as he recalled his first successful visit to Lyoko. "_Not like I'll need it again...I hope._"

A chime from the computer signaling the completion of the scan reclaimed Jeremy's attention from his ridiculously dressed Lyoko form to that of William's. Judging from his identification card, William's virtual form was a doppelsöldner of some sort, a German mercenary in the sixteenth century if Jeremy recalled his history lessons correctly.

As William's virtual avatar began to form on Lyoko, Jeremy sat back and waited.

* * *

Aelita stood patiently, hand on hip, in the Southern Forest, as she waited William to be virtualized onto Lyoko. Sure enough, shortly after she had remotely initiated the virtualization process, a set of blue rings appeared just above the ground and scanned in William's virtual avatar. Materializing above the ground, William's legs waved slightly as he was released from the virtualization process. With a grunt and a solid thud, William fell straight onto his backside against the grassy ground of Lyoko.

Aelita chuckled slightly as the older boy got to his feet, rubbing his back and muttering something under his breath. As William brushed off, Aelita gazed critically at him. His outfit was nothing too special, consisting of a skin-tight aquamarine-grey and white body suit with a red cloth-like belt. What was most eye-catching, however, was William's weapon, which currently lay on the ground beside the boy. Aelita got a chance to view the weapon in all its grandeur as William picked it up, gazing at it admiringly.

"Wow, sick blade," the older boy breathed, taking in the massive butcher-knife-like zweihänder. It had a small triangle-like design on the blade near the red and black hilt. William turned to face Aelita.

"Hey, Aelita!" William greeted enthusiastically, craning his head to take in his new surroundings. "Man! This is way better Galactic Defender! Hey what do you fight with anyways? With your bare hands?"

Aelita clenched her fists slightly and narrowed her eyes. Fighting Xana was no game - and neither was her home! She smirked slightly as an idea came to her.

"Oh yes, I fight with my bare hands," she retorted, sarcasm just barely edging its way into her voice. "Just watch this!"

With that Aelita held forward her right hand and began to focus on the air just above William. The older boy looked equal parts bemused and bewildered as an angelic singing filled the air. His confusion quickly changed to panic ,as he heard the slight crackling of virtualization above him and looked up to see a massive boulder materialize in the air above him.

"Aaaaah!" He shouted in panic as he darted out from underneath the rock just as it slammed into the ground where he had been standing. He tumbled to the dirt in front of Aelita. He clambered slightly back from her as he got to his feet before staring at her incredulously.

"Were you trying to kill me or something?" He nearly shouted at the virtual elf. Aelita just smirked before swiveling around and walking off deeper into the forest.

"You weren't in any danger," she shot back saucily at William over her shoulder. "The worst thing that would've happened is you would've materialize in the scanner with a small case of a severe headache."

"Ha, ha, very funny," William retorted sardonically, retrieving his sword, which had fallen from his hands when he had dived out of the way of the boulder, and resting it on his shoulder as he followed after the pink-haired elf. "Anything else I need to now?"

"Well for one thing, if Aelita's devirtualized, she's gone for good - no materialization for her." William flinched slightly at Jeremy's voice coming from seemingly no where at all.

"In addition to that," Jeremy's disembodied voice continued. "If you fall into the virtual sea - which you should be able to see just to your left right about now - I won't be able to re-materialize you. Your data will be spread out onto the entire network. In short, you will be irretrievably lost. So don't fall."

William glanced cautiously over the edge of the forested pathway. He gave a low whistle as he surveyed the massive golden colored sea below him.

"Got it, no swimming allowed," William muttered to himself as he started to grasp the true gravity of his situation. Aelita glanced behind her at the older boy.

"Hope you're not backing out on us," Aelita teased with a wink as she continued down the path.

"No way!" William exclaimed as he tore himself away from the chaotic beauty of the sea below and jogged slightly to catch up with the young elf. "I'm in this all the way! There's no half-way with me."

"Good to hear because you've got some company," Jeremy's voice came again from nowhere. Although William was becoming used to it, the disembodied voice was still somewhat disconcerting.

"Company? What do you mean? I thought we were the only ones here," William echoed, sending a questioning glance to Aelita, who had stopped just ahead of him and was looking up at the sky, presumably to Jeremy's voice.

"The only wanderers, yes. The only beings, no. I'm sure Jeremy told you about Xana's creatures?" Aelita lectured to the older boy, angling her head down to meet his gaze. William shifted the massive blade resting on his shoulder. He did seem to recall Jeremy mentioning something about. In response to Aelita's inquiry, William just nodded in affirmation. Satisfied, Aelita turned her attention back to Jeremy.

"What do we have, Jeremy?"

"Looks like a pack of kankrelats closing in fast followed by a couple of bloks further back. You should be able to take care of the kankrelats before the bloks arrive."

The sound of a multitude of small creatures scurrying reached the ears of the two virtualized beings. William whirled around, nearly falling over due to the sheer size of his weapon. Aelita let a small smirk grace her face as she too turned to face the new arrivals.

Five roach-like creatures were hurrying down the path towards the two, their laser eyes focused on them. William removed Zweihänder from his shoulder and gripped it in both hands, letting the swords tip ever so slightly scrap the ground.

"Are these the - what did you call them? - kankrelats?"

"Mhmm," Aelita hummed as she casually stepped back and leaned against a nearby boulder, crossing her arms and waiting. William looked over at her in confusion.

"Aren't we going to fight them?" The older boy asked, not sure what to make of the elf's actions. Aelita returned his look with a smirk.

"No, _you're_ going to fight them," Aelita disclosed to William. "I already know _I _can beat them. We want to know if _you_ can beat them."

William's mouth quirked slightly at this. He let out a huff of amusement at the younger wanderer's reply.

"Alright then, you want to see how good I am? I'll show you," William boasted as the kankrelats came to halt in front of him, briefly glancing at each other as if confused by the presence of a newcomer. William hefted his sword in front of him. Swinging the massive blade forward, and being taken on a spinning ride along with it, William cut through the three closest kankrelats before coming to a dizzying halt.

"See? That wasn't so ha-ow!" William's declaration of victory was cut short by two laser blasts that sent him tumbling into a nearby tree trunk.

"You were saying William?" Jeremy's voice came from above. "And by the way, you've just lost twenty life points."

"Thanks for the encouragement," William grumbled as he rubbed his shoulder, turning around to face the offending kankrelats furiously. "You wanna play like that? Alright then, let's go!"

The kankrelats began to charge their lasers again but were quickly shattered into thousands of pieces by Zweihänder. William smirked as he rested the massive sword once again on his shoulders.

"Teach you to shoot me in the back!" He mocked the devirtualized monsters. Aelita just rolled her eyes as she pushed away from the rock she had been resting on.

"You did alright, but those were Xana's weakest monsters," Aelita warned the overconfident boy. "Bloks are much tougher and trickier than kankrelats."

"Eh, it can't be that bad?" William shrugged as he awaited the next wave of monsters.

"Well if it isn't 'that bad' then it is now. Xana's activated a tower." Jeremy's voice came from above. Aelita frowned slightly. Xana must have been sending the kankrelats and bloks to devirtualize her before activating the tower. Unfortunately for the rogue program, William was here to provide an unexpected obstacle.

"Which tower is activated?" Aelita asked even as William shouted, "Here comes some more!", as two bloks came charging into sight, on a direct intercept with the two wanderers.

"Your in luck, it's Tower Eight - near your location," Jeremy hastily replied. Aelita nodded to herself before facing off against the bloks along with William. William glanced to the side at the determined elf.

"Thought all the fighting was for me?" He smirked sarcastically. Aelita began to focus on the ground in front of the leftmost blok. She had found that focusing before activating her creativity decreased the amount of energy spent.

"Not when there's a tower active. You take the one on the right, I've got the other!" Aelita replied as she held out her hand and activated her power of creativity. The path in front of the left blok began to flicker. William took this as his cue and rushed forward, blocking the monster's laser with his massive blade. Needless to say, the blok was unable to fire again before Zweihänder pierced one of its eyes and it burst into pixels. Meanwhile, the other blok had been unable to stop its charge and met a colorful demise in the virtual sea. William covered his eyes with his free hand as a column of bright light blasted up from below.

"Alright, no time to waste," Aelita instructed, as she recovered from the strain of altering the virtual landscape. "We've got to get to the tower quickly! This way!"

With that, Aelita took off on the path she knew would quickly take them to the activated tower. She could hear William grunting behind her as he ran awkwardly with his massive sword. She paid little heed, however. He was doing fine and there was a tower needing deactivation.

The duo quickly arrived at the activated tower, pulsations rippling into it. While William paused to stare up in awe at the massive structure, Aelita wasted no time in phasing through the wall and beginning her ascent.

* * *

Jeremy watched calmly from his seat at the supercomputer. Everything was going according to plan - even better in fact. William had proven himself a more than formidable fighter, and Aelita was currently deactivating a tower in record time.

"Tower deactivated," Aelita reported from the now dormant tower. Jeremy cracked his knuckles before inputting the coordinates for the return trip to the past. Although what Xana's attack had been was not apparent, Jeremy did not feel it was worth taking a risk - not at this point at least. Besides, William needed to experience a return to the past where he _kept_ his memories.

"Alright then, return to the past now," Jeremy intoned as he initiated the procedure and white light filled the computer lab.

_Pulsations rippled through the desert as the samurai held a hand in front of his eyes in order to protect his sight from the piercing grains of sand. His other hand rested on the hilt of his sword as he pushed through the storm, desperately searching for a tower. Suddenly the pulsations ceased and the sandstorm began to die down - as quickly as it had begun. The warrior crouched to the ground as he waited for the slicing gusts of sand to dissipate entirely. Once the sand had ceased to fly, the boy stood up to survey his surroundings. The landscape around him seemed to be unaffected by the storm. He, however, was far from unaffected. Even though he had only been exposed to the storm for a short time he felt sluggish and weakened. Setting his sights on the tower he had previously spotted, the samurai began to slowly make his way towards the sheltering structure. 'Guess exploring these valleys is gonna have to wait for a while,' he thought ruefully to himself as he trudged towards the tower._

_"Gnnngh!" The blond-haired boy grunted as he clawed his way back up the tunnel. Unable to find a tower after being attacked by the trio of bloks the hybrid had dived into a nearby ice tunnel in hopes of finding at least some shelter from the ice storm. Although the ice tunnel was protection enough, it was, much to the purple-furred feline's annoyance, a dead end - and a slippery dead end at that. Too rub even more salt in the wound (he wondered yet again where he came up with such adages), the pulsations, and the blizzard along with them, had ceased shortly after they had begun - rendering the hybrid's hiding place rather moot. Since then he had been attempting to climb his way back up the slippery slope of the tunnel. "Nraaaah!" He yowled as he lost his grip on the ice yet again and slid back down the frozen slide of ice. He picked up speed until he was abruptly stopped by a wall of ice - again. 'Gah! I swear it hurts even more this time!' The hybrid thought in annoyance as he rubbed head. He was beginning to feel as if he was simply compressing the snowy wall into hard-packed ice via his repeated collisions with it. Turning back towards the clawed and scratched up surface of the ice tunnel, the feline let out a low growl. No way was he going to let some overgrown, poor excuse for an ice slide beat him! Claws extended in determination, the boy once again began to claw his way back up the icy surface._

_The geisha remained still as the landscape slowly returned and the fog receded. Her path towards the massive mesa she had set out for unsurprisingly led in a completely different direction. Standing upright, having been crouched down with her hands on the ground, the geisha's eyes followed the rocky terrain as it reappeared. The pathway in front of her weaved this way and that until at last it came to a group of rather isolated mountains. Finally being able to see again, the raven-haired girl began to sprint towards the upcoming plateau. Her keen eyes noticing a tower in the distance, the girl began to make her way through the jagged and tree-lined cliffs. When at last she came to where the tower stood, looming over the landscape like the castle of a feudal lord, she paused. The tower stood upon a lone platform with a small bridge jutting out from it. The isle the tower stood upon was spinning slowly in a large circle - outlining the ring of rock which surrounded it. To even reach that ring, however, would require one to leap and bound over and upon a plethora of moving, floating boulders. Each one shifting in a different direction. Spellbound for a moment by the rhythmic movement of the floating stones and the rocky isle upon which stood the tower, the geisha watched with eyes narrowed as each floating piece danced along its path. Finally confident that she was fully attuned to the complex dance, the geisha leapt from the plateau beneath her._

**Post Story Author's Note: So you've read the story (or you skipped to the end just to read the author's note - to which I would ask: why?). Feel free to review, rant, rage, flame, whatever, just keep the input coming.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Author's Note: Before I continue, I just want to give a massive thank you to all of you who have reviewed my story. It certainly helped motivate me to get this chapter written.  
**

**So now to answer some of your questions. To my mysterious guest reviewer, it should be at least a few more chapters before our main characters start meeting up. However, time-wise for our characters it should be, oh, a few months maybe? To give you some sense of context, the first chapter takes place roughly around the time _Saint_ _Valentine's Day_ would have taken place.  
**

**As for your first question, lyokowarrior, you'll just have to wait and see! As for your second question, I could try to be mysterious but in all honesty I had already given it away by including Hiroki in the character list of my summary. That being said, I can add mysteriously that there will be another additional character (which I bet none of you will be expecting, hopefully) who is not on the character list because I just recently had the inspiration of adding them in. So that's one question solved and another posed.**

**Now before I end this long-winded (for me) Author's Note, I need to clarify the time system our geisha will be mentioning throughout part of the story. 1 moment equals 1.25 seconds; 1 rotation equals 4 moments; 1 cycle equals 100 rotations; 1 span equals 100 cycles; 1 period equals 10 spans. I will leave it up to you to figure out _how_ our geisha decided on this system (Hint: Its one of the towers in the mountain sector - and no I didn't stare at it and count out five seconds, so don't bother doing that. I chose five seconds just because).**

**With all that out of the way, I hope you enjoy.**

**Now on with the story...**

_A whirlwind of sand tore through the desert accompanied by a yellow streak of light. Racing through the vast, open desert was one of the samurai's favorite past-times. Not only was he able to hone his reflexes as he moved at inhuman speeds, but he also enjoyed the thrill of the wind and dust flowing past his face as he sprinted under the hot desert sun. He had long since explored the whole of the desert, finding that, quite to his surprise, the seemingly endless wasteland was rather...small. And while it was true that occasionally he found something, be it a group of monsters or hidden sandstone cave, to add to the stone maps he had scattered around the various sand-covered plateaus. More often than not he would find nothing new of any note. The pulsations and sandstorms still persisted, seemingly centered around the Tornado Peaks, the plateau just east of his oasis. Approaching a series of fin-like rock projections, the samurai weaved in and out and up the thin vertical rock formations, all the while contemplating the lack of anything particularly new. Clearing the windy passages formed by the rocky fins, the samurai surged to a halt to ponder the subject. If there was one place that still held the potential for exploration, it was the aforementioned Tornado Peaks and the mysterious red tower that lay within it. The samurai occasionally caught a glimpse of the strange tower through the ever-present sandstorm that cycled through the Tornado Peaks on a regular basis. Turning to send a curious glance in the general direction of said plateau, the yellow-clad warrior debated on whether to attempt, once more, an exploration of the turbulent plateau. After all, he reasoned with himself, the sandstorm cycled through the enigmatic plateau but never covered the plateau in its entirety. All he would have to do was be patient and observe the path of the storm before venturing forth into the Tornado Peaks. It would take time, of course - a lot of time, but, the boy thought with a smile, he had all the time in the world._

_In short, he was bored. The purple-clad hybrid had already explored - and re-explored - and looked around again just for good measure - the surrounding plateaus. He had stuck his nose into every crack and crevice he had found. It had been quite fun - until he had run out of cracks and crevices. Now, without even a few bloks or roachsters to provide him with amusement, he was meandering almost sullenly through what he considered to be the most boring part of the world - the Snowy Plains. They were just as they sounded: flat, covered with snow, and devoid of any significant outcroppings of ice that could promise a slippery slide of exhilaration. "Of course some of the best ice slides have to be on the far side of the flatlands of boringness!" The feline complained to himself, having no one else to talk to - or even at. Before he could inundate himself with any further complaints, the hybrid suddenly halted in his tracks. A low rumbling sound had reached his keen ears. He anxiously surveyed the horizon, expecting the tell-tale signs of an imminent blizzard. When his eyes found nothing of the sort, the blond-haired boy paused once more to listen to the low grumbling sound. As he listened to it longer this time, he realized that it was not, in fact, a pulsation. Rather, it was constant and unwavering - almost like a boulder rolling down a hill. As the distant rumbling grew closer, the purple-furred feline determined its source. Rolling towards him was some kind of smooth, grey boulder. The hybrid tilted his head slightly as he tried to determine more about the oncoming sphere. "What do we have here?" He exclaimed out loud, his curiosity piqued. No answer came from the icy wasteland as the massive sphere abruptly ground to a halt. Suddenly the hybrid had a very bad feeling. His bad feeling was confirmed when a ring of eye-like protrusions emerged from the sphere and it opened up to reveal a blood-red entrail-like interior situated around a single large eye. The hybrid lacked the time even to make a small quip before energy built up in the center of the sphere and surged towards him._

_The geisha edged her way slowly down the narrow pathway which led away from the Bowl, a massive crater-like valley that seemed to lay in the center of her mountains. She had finally completed her exploration of the massive structure. A process that had taken her almost three spans to accomplish. Still, she figured, it was far easier than her exploration of the now aptly named Peaks of Confusion. The rocky mountain paths were even more twisted and befuddling there, and in the end it had taken her almost two periods to map out the entire region. In the end, she had managed, and here she was, getting ready to embark on her next expedition into the depths of her mountainous home. Reaching the bottom of the narrow path, the geisha surveyed the mist-covered trails that lay before her. Mere periods ago she would have believed the deceptive pathways to led to the mesa, nearly as large as the one she had emerged from, that lay to her right. She knew better now, however, and realized that the twisted path led instead to a cluster of mountains to her left. With that in mind, the geisha quickly - but cautiously - made her way across the land bridge that lay before her towards whatever awaited her among the misty peaks on the horizon._

The sound of laser fire pierced the usually serene air of Lyoko, as Aelita sprinted through the forested world. She had been out on one of her patrols of Lyoko, keeping an eye out for any activity from Xana while also honing her power of creativity. It was not uncommon for the virtual elf to encounter some of Xana's creatures - but not to run into an entire herd of the things. Aelita sent a brief glance over her shoulder as she ran. The number of monsters chasing her had risen from a dozen or so kankrelats and a few bloks to a _couple _dozen kankrelats and nearly a half dozen bloks.

'I've got to reach the tower!' Aelita thought desperately even as a stray laser bolt struck her shoulder causing her to stumble to the ground. Rolling across the moss-covered ground, Aelita quickly sprang to her feet again and continued to flee. She silently cursed herself for not bringing one of the vehicles with her, having by now repaired the damage to each of them. 'Of all the days to decide to walk,' she groaned to herself as she pushed her legs to move even faster as she neared the tower.

Rounding a heavily forested part of the path, Aelita skidded to a halt with a gasp of shock and horror. She had reached the tower but so had Xana. Standing guard on three sides of the tower were three megatanks, all angled in various directions. Noticing her arrival, the megatanks deployed and let out three waves of crimson energy. Although none struck Aelita or even came close to doing so, the pink-haired elf could tell that they were not meant to. At sixty degree angles to each other, the laser waves from the megatanks effectively walled of the tower as they fired again and again.

Aelita was given little time to witness the spectacle as multiple laser blasts impacted the ground in front of her, reminding her that she was being pursued by a small army of monsters. Cut off from the tower and the rest of Lyoko, Aelita had no choice but to run north, even though she knew that this was the Northern Forest and the only thing that lay beyond it was the Digital Sea. Still, at least running towards the edge of Lyoko would give her some time to contact Jeremy. Focusing her mind, Aelita accessed the networks that interfaced with the supercomputer and called out for Jeremy. She received no reply. She thought of the time as she ran. There was no reason Jeremy should not be answering. It was lunch time, and she knew all to well that Jeremy never went anywhere without his laptop. And he most certainly never turned off the thing.

Gaining some ground on Xana's monsters, Aelita knew she had little time to enact the plan she had just conjured. Kneeling on the grass-covered ground, Aelita focused her mind even as her angelic singing reverberated through the air. Around her, four massive chunks of virtual rock emerged from the ground, forming a shell of protection against the monsters. Aelita knew that the barrier of stone would not last long against Xana's creatures, however, and so began attempting to make contact with Jeremy once more. Even as she sent her mind through the network though, Aelita sensed on the edges of her consciousness the pulsations of an activated tower.

* * *

Jeremy stepped away from the lunch line, meal tray in hand, and walked over to his usual spot. Before he had met Aelita, Jeremy would have sat alone, just like he had been doing ever since Aelita had been forced to return to Lyoko. Now however, with the addition of William into their little group of 'Lyoko Wanderers', as Aelita had coined it, the older boy had taken to sitting at the same table as Jeremy. William had been somewhat of a lone wolf before, albeit one of the more 'popular' lone wolves, and so hadn't left anyone behind with his change in seating arrangements. Although Jeremy sometimes found the upper class man somewhat overly enthusiastic about the whole 'Lyoko thing', Jeremy could not deny that he appreciated William's company.

"Hey, Einstein," William greeted as he looked up from his meal. Jeremy rolled his eyes slightly. He wasn't sure when exactly Aelita had given him that nickname, but William had picked it up almost immediately upon first hearing it from the pinkette. Taking his seat at the table, Jeremy's mind was not too focused on his companion but rather on Aelita.

A few snaps and the waving of a hand brought Jeremy out of his dreamy stupor.

"Hey, do you always blank out like that or do you have _someone_ special on your mind? You haven't forgotten that little chat we're supposed to have today?"

Jeremy groaned slightly. Since about a week ago, William had seemingly taken it upon himself to give Jeremy, being the apparently shy and withdrawn kind of kid he was, tips on romance and dating. Although it was certainly what one might call 'boy stuff', Jeremy suspected that Aelita had a hand in William's undertaking. The virtual girl had always tried, and on very rare occasions been successful, to get Jeremy to interact with other people his age - or really anyone at all for that matter. He also suspected that Aelita sometimes grew tired of his constant work on the supercomputer and its programs.

Fortunately for Jeremy, his laptop let out a small series of beeps. Jeremy frantically scrambled to open his bag in order to avoid any further discussions with William, who was currently smirking at the younger boy's clumsy haste.

Finally fumbling the bag open, Jeremy quickly removed his computer from the satchel and opened it. William got up from where he was sitting to walk around the table in order to get a view of what the computer was showing Jeremy. No sooner had he reached the other side of the table when Aelita's frantic face popped up on the screen.

"Jeremy! Thank goodness you're there!" The virtual elf exclaimed, the panic in her voice obvious.

"Aelita? What's going on?" Jeremy asked, immediately concerned. The girl seemed to flinch at some unknown assailant before replying.

"Xana's sent his monsters after me! A whole army! I'm safe for now but I won't be much longer," Aelita reported, calming somewhat at the sight of her friends. She lacked the time to continue further before Jeremy replied in confirmation, glancing over his shoulder at William as he did so.

"Alright Aelita, we'll be there as fast as we can," Jeremy announced before quickly closing his laptop, replacing it into his pack as he stood up.

"Looks like our 'little chat' is going to have to wait - Aelita's in danger!" Jeremy turned to William.

"I heard," William affirmed, heading off after Jeremy as they exited the cafeteria and headed towards the woods. They elicited a few confused glances from their classmates but neither particularly cared. One was caught up only in the safety of his friend, while the other never let such things bother him anyways.

Clearing the school grounds, the two were about to start down the path towards the manhole cover when a chorus of savage barks met their ears. Spinning around, the two boys were confronted with a snarling pack of dogs, strays judging by the looks of them. What really caught their attention, however, was the fact that each of the rabid creatures occasionally flickered like an old television screen.

"Xana," William growled, bracing his body with his fists raised. "Does he have something with dogs or what? You think these are illusions too?"

"Don't bet on it, last time Xana used wolves, which aren't very common around here. Stray dogs on the other-hand...much more common," Jeremy replied as he nervously watched the Xanafied dogs edge closer, teeth baring in amplified growls.

"So we should go with the Plan A we had last time?" William asked, referring to the time when Xana had sent a pack of spectral - and real - wolves after the two. Jeremy just nodded in affirmation, keeping one eye on the snarling pack.

"Alright then, on three," William instructed, something on the ground catching his eye. "One...two...THREE!" He shouted, swiftly bending down to swoop up a fallen branch and throw it at the dog pack before turning on his heels and running after Jeremy, easily keeping pace with the younger boy.

Jeremy's lungs heaved as he ran through the woods. Although fighting Xana had kept him fit, he was still far more intellectual than he was athletic. This was accentuated by William's lack of effort in keeping up with him and the vicious howling of the nearing pack of dogs.

As the manhole cover came into sight, William picked up his pace slightly and ran past Jeremy in order to heave the metal disk out of the ground, allowing Jeremy to quickly half-slide, half-climb down the metal ladder, followed swiftly by William who pulled the manhole cover back over the hole just in time to avoid getting his hand bitten off by a particularly large brute of a dog.

William skipped the last few rungs of the ladder, as Jeremy rested his hands on his knees, pausing for a while to catch his breath before standing upright once more and grabbing his scooter.

"Alright, we'd better hurry," Jeremy announced as William grabbed his skateboard and the two took off down the sewers. "Who knows how Aelita's holding up, and knowing Xana I bet he's sending those dogs of his straight to the factory to head us off."

"Then we'll just have to get there faster!" William declared, determination markedly present in his voice as he picked up speed on his skateboard.

* * *

Dust and pebbles rained down onto Aelita as the rock shell that covered her was impacted again and again by laser blasts, slowly cracking and falling apart. Aelita covered her head with her arms as a particularly powerful explosion split the dome of stone open and it fell down around her. Aelita gasped at the sight of the dozens of monsters that lay before her.

Scrambling to her feet, Aelita barely managed to avoid the barrage of laser fire that chased her to the edge of Lyoko. She skidded to a stop on an outcropping of rock. She glanced fearfully over the edge of the precipice. The sound of gears whirring and metallic legs striking the ground caused her to swirl back around to face the assorted mass of kankrelats and bloks.

'So this is how it ends,' Aelita thought, despair replacing her fear as the creatures drew closer. She closed her eyes as hope left her before opening them suddenly in determination. If she was going to die today then she was going to go down fighting!

She focused her mind as she began to call on her creativity, readying an attack on the growing army of monsters that would surely drain the remainder of her life-points but would not leave any of her foes left to exist another day.

Just before she released the full power of her creativity, the revving of a engine caught her ears. Looking past the army of bloks and kankrelats, Aelita was just in time to witness the overbike slam into three of the bloks, destroying them instantly. The assortment of monsters were quick to swivel around in order to locate their attacker. Before they could, however, William's sword cleaved half a dozen kankrelats in half.

Aelita let out a smile of relief as William surged from the forest to attack the remaining monsters. Her smile grew even larger when she heard Jeremy's voice.

"Aelita! Aelita, are you alright!?" She heard Jeremy ask, his voice nearing record levels of panic.

"I'm fine now Jeremy," Aelita assured, deciding not to tell her friend about what she been about to do before William had arrived. as she watched William start to spin with Zweihänder in hand, completely demolishing any monsters in sword length.

"Did you have any trouble getting to the factory?" Aelita asked, thinking of the pulsations she had felt earlier.

"We ran into some four-legged friends of Xana, but other than that everything went fine," Jeremy replied, almost nonchalantly now that Aelita was out of harm's way.

"Anyways," Jeremy continued, keys tapping in the background. "There's still a tower that needs deactiv - wait, this can't be right."

"What is it Jeremy?" Aelita inquired, casting a glance over to William, who was still fighting what was left of the army of kankrelats and bloks.

"The tower's deactivated itself! I don't understand it!"

"Isn't it a good thing the tower's deactivated? I mean after all - "

Aelita was unable to finish her question as a small humming sound sounded behind her and a white light engulfed her.

William turned around from the blok he had just slain when he heard Aelita's scream. He was just in time to see a strange white sphere bearing a blue eye of Xana surround the virtual elf and zoom off into the distance.

"Aelita!" William shouted even as he blocked a laser blast from a nearby kankrelat before swiftly making sure the monster regretted it.

* * *

Jeremy frantically typed in commands even as he scanned the computer screens for any trace of Aelita.

"William! I've lost Aelita from my screens! What's happened?" Jeremy asked the virtualized boy frantically.

"Some kind of - white sphere - came up from - the virtual sea - and engulfed her before - flying off," William reported, his words punctuated by grunts and the sound of his sword devirtualizing monsters. "Do you think she's..."

"No, I...I doubt it," Jeremy replied, faltering slightly as he continued to scan the screens. "I think she just...disappeared from the screens almost as if - hey, wait! This is strange."

"What is it?" William asked, breathing normally now. Jeremy briefly glanced at the virtual map to confirm that William had managed to clear out the small army of monsters.

"Aelita's...well, she's not on Lyoko anymore - I mean not anywhere I've seen. It's almost like there's another virtual reality or another part of Lyoko that's not part of the forest."

"What? Another Lyoko? Have you gone crazy or what?" William asked, sounding just as confused as Jeremy felt. Jeremy continued to input commands in order to determine what was going on.

"No...," Jeremy grumbled in reply to William's outburst. A new window suddenly popped up on the screen. "Wait. there's something here - it's a message of some sort. _Welcome to Carthage._"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"I think it has something to do with the Punic Wars, you know, the wars that were fought between Rome and Carthage. Anyways, there's a password here. I think it will provide access to wherever Aelita is."

"Well you better hurry up, Einstein," William voice came even as a series of beeps from the map of Lyoko indicated the arrival of two krabs. "Skip the history lesson and figure out that password!"

"Wait that's it," Jeremy exclaimed, glancing at a nearby pile of books, which he had scavenged from the Hermitage. "I bet that's just what I need - a history lesson!"

Jeremy began to scan through the book on the Punic Wars, searching desperately for any clue as to what the password was.

* * *

William ran his hand along Zweihänder's blade nervously as the sound of more monsters arriving grew more pronounced. He was unsure of how many life-points he had left, and he had no desire of getting devirtualized and leaving Aelita to fend for herself. He might have asked Jeremy how many life points he had left, but the young genius was busy rambling on and on about the Punic Wars, attempting to decipher the password.

"...general of Carthage?...Hannibal...no, that's not it..."

"Any time now Jeremy," William urged his friend on, catching a glimpse of the approaching krabs.

"Hey I'm doing my best!" Jeremy protested. William could picture him pressing his hands against his head in frustration. "Gah! I'm going in circles! Let's see...'Welcome to Carthage'. To go into Carthage you have to do what? Defeat it! Who defeated Carthage?...Scipio! That's it!"

"Did you get it?" William asked, hopeful at Jeremy's cry of exultation. Before Jeremy could answer, however, the same sphere that had picked up Aelita, emerged from beneath Lyoko and engulfed William, who had backed up onto the same ledge Aelita had stood on.

* * *

Aelita stumbled slightly as the white sphere that had captured her dissolved around her and moved away from her. Her head moved back and forth as she surveyed the chamber she had arrived. The room was a translucent blue and white with the eye of Xana engraved on the still spinning floor.

A corridor of light suddenly descended along one side of the room, thudding against the floor. The room spun slowly to a stop. Aelita took a few hesitant steps towards the corridor before taking off down the hallway at full sprint.

The hallway telescoped out in front of her as she ran, wall after wall parting before her. The corridor finally came to an end in a large open, maze-like room. Aelita briefly glanced over the side of the chasm that was most of the room. Although the digital sea did not lay at the bottom of it, Aelita had no doubt that falling from this height would damage her enough for devirtualization. She swiveled her head to her left and right as she surveyed the respective paths. She eventually decided on the leftmost corridor and ran off in that direction, but in truth she had no idea where to go. Whatever this place was, it was far stranger than the forested world of Lyoko.

Rounding another corner and shooting out of its passageway, Aelita came up short as she had found yet another cavernous room, similar to the one she had just left. Lips curling in frustration, Aelita scanned the room carefully. That was when she noticed something about this room. On the far side of the room was a small switch-like object that resembled the eye of Xana. She quickly ran the circumference of the room until she was in front of the strange device jutting from the wall.

She hesitated briefly before hitting the switch with the palm of her hand. The device retracted into the wall, letting out a series of blue flashes as it did. Suddenly the room around began to shift and move as various parts of it slid against each other. She quickly jumped off the platform she was standing on as it suddenly jerked downwards. Within a matter of minutes, the room had completely reconfigured itself, blocking off the path she had originally come from in the process.

A slight hissing noise to her right caused her to turn her head in inquiry. A few meters away from her a part of the wall had retracted to reveal a new passage. She was debating whether to explore it when a dull roar sounded behind her. Whirling around, Aelita gasped at what she saw.

Emerging from some of the pits that had formed in the room was a plethora of brown snake-like creatures that appeared to be partially made of metal. The nearest creature roared again as it neared the virtual girl, pulling itself along the floor with two tendril-like legs that sprouted from its torso. Aelita backed up nervously towards the corridor that had opened behind her, the doorway looking far more inviting now. Roaring again, the creature reared its head, which bore the mark of Xana, energy building in its mouth before launching said energy at Aelita. The blast missed Aelita and impacted the floor in front of her, but it was enough to get the girl to leap backwards before turning tail and running down the newly made corridor, the strange monsters in hot pursuit.

"Aelita? Aelita can you here me!?" A familiar voice came suddenly as Aelita sprinted down the corridor. Aelita glanced upwards in gratitude.

"Jeremy! I need help! I don't know where I am - it doesn't look anything like the rest of Lyoko!"

"I know, it's another...I guess extension of Lyoko. It's called Carthage. Are you okay?"

"If being chased by giant snake-like cyborgs is okay, then yes," Aelita panted as she finally reached the end of the passageway and emerged into yet another room.

"Jeremy! I've entered another room," Aelita reported glancing around the room. Suddenly a strange, shrill almost clicking-like snarl came from behind. Whirling around, Aelita's eyes widened at the sight in front of her, and she screamed.

* * *

The bright light of the sphere retreated from William as Jeremy's calls of panic filled his ears.

"Aelita? What's going on? Aelita!?" Came Jeremy's frantic cries. "William, I think Aelita's been attacked! You have to get to her and fast! A passage way should open up soon."

"Got it," William nodded, his eyes finding the aforementioned passage. Hefting Zweihänder onto his shoulder, William began to run through the narrow corridor.

"O-okay," Jeremy began as he steadied his breathing and calmed down slightly. "Some sort of timer has been activated. From what I can tell you have under three minutes to find a switch that will deactivate it."

"Great," William exclaimed as he ran into a rather open room filled with massive pillars. "Any idea where this switch is?"

"Uh, hold on," William could hear keys clacking in the background as Jeremy replied. "It should be right above you to your left."

William looked up and around for the switch before his eyes finally alighted on it.

"Okay, I see it," William reported. "Though I guess I know why its so close to the entrance and not on the other side of the room."

Near the top of the room, nearly inaccessible if not for the columns that were scattered about the room, extruded a switch in the shape of Xana's eye. William began to race his way up the rugged and makeshift stairway towards the switch.

"Well, hurry," Jeremy snapped, his fear for Aelita's safety clearly getting the best of him. "You have less than a minute!"

"Alright, alright! Almost there," William grunted as he leaped from pillar to pillar.

"Twenty seconds!" Jeremy cried out. William didn't waste his breath in replying instead hurling himself forward and slamming into the switch.

Losing his balance due to his massive sword, William fell off the platform. His shout of shock was cut short by him landing on a rising pillar. Climbing to his feet, William saw that the entire room had reconfigured itself to reveal a new corridor.

"Alright, William, head down that passage and I'll instruct you after that," Jeremy instructed. "And hurry, I still don't have any contact with Aelita."

William made his way through the corridor and the maze that awaited him, executing Jeremy's commands on a dime until he was finally greeted with the sight of a cavernous chamber. William skidded to a halt in shock. Looming in the center of the room was a strange jellyfish-like creature that was currently holding Aelita captive in its tentacles. The monstrosity was surrounded by three snake-like creatures.

"Uh...Jeremy?" William said, readying Zweihänder. "There's...something here...and its got Aelita."

"I'm on it!" Jeremy replied before exclaiming in shock. "Oh, no! William! That thing's stealing Aelita's memory! You have to stop it!"

"You don't need to say anymore," William affirmed, rushing towards the monsters that held Aelita captive. The creepy snake-like creatures roared at his approach as they fired burst of energy from their mouths. William dodged each blast.

"You get away from her!" William shouted as he whirled Zweihänder - and himself - around in an arc, slicing through the rampant creatures. Driving more momentum into the sword, William carried his swing over to the creature that held Aelita captive, slicing through its tentacles in the process. The virtual elf fell to the ground with a gasp even as the creature let out a shrill, warbling snarl as it retreated. William bent down, resting his sword on his shoulder, and placed a hand on Aelita's.

"Aelita, are you okay?"

The pinkette slowly opened her eyes as she focused on the dark-haired boy standing over her.

"I-I'm fine," She replied. "W-what happened?"

"That's a good question," William replied, helping the virtual elf to her feet. "And I'm sure Einstein has a few ideas, so what do you say to getting out of this hellhole?"

Aelita returned his comment with a weak smile and a nod as they headed back to the platform they had first come from in order to return to the forested world of Lyoko and leave the metallic one of Carthage behind.

_The samurai walked slowly through the sand dunes of the Sandy Hills. He was in no particular hurry to get to his location. Besides, he was busy thinking about his choice of name for this particular plateau. In hindsight, he probably should have just called the place 'Sand Dunes' rather than 'Sandy Hills'. Of course he had not come up with the word 'dune' yet when he had explored the place. He shrugged the topic off. Not like their was ever going to be anyone to talk to him about it anyways, so he might as well just keep the name. It would save him from having correct his maps anyways. A shrill roar broke him away from his thoughts. Lashing out his katana, the samurai surveyed the horizon for the source of the menacing sound. It did not take long for him to spot the source. Approaching him was some sort of spider-like creature whose legs seemed to be metal cylinders while its head was white and shaped like a saddle. Whatever a saddle was. The beast, spotting the boy, roared and leaned back on its hind legs to prop up its forelimbs. The samurai quickly dived out of the way as twin blasts of energy struck the ground he been standing on. He had recognized the two metallic limbs as laser cannons. Activating his super-sprint as he called it, the samurai ran circles around the creature, dodging its blasts all the while searching for a weakness. He knew he could not keep it up however. This creature was smarter than the other monsters and had already begun firing its lasers along his path, forcing him to be more unpredictable. 'If only there were more of me!' The warrior thought in desperation, focused on the creature in front. To his surprise, as soon as he had the thought he felt a strange electrifying sensation surge through him as two doubles of himself suddenly shot from his body. His moment of surprise was cut short when one of the doubles was hit by the monster and subsequently disintegrated into glowing, blue dust. Although shocked by the sudden death of his copy, the samurai steeled himself as he glanced at his other clone. At least now he had a fighting chance._

_"Mraoawr!" The hybrid yowled in surprise as he yanked his head back into the tower he had taken shelter in from the blizzard and the megatank (as he coined it) that had just attempted to sever his head from the rest of his body. He growled slightly and lashed his tail as he cocked his wrists. "Come on load up," he muttered to himself. He had discovered in a fight with a half dozen or so bloks that he had a limited amount of arrows - about ten per wrist or twenty in all. Fortunately he had also discovered that the projectiles could be reloaded in the towers. None of that seemed to matter much when facing the metallic monstrosity that lay outside the tower. From what he could tell the only weak point of the metal sphere was the eye that lay in its center. He had tried piercing the metal shell of the sphere but to no avail. A resounding 'click' came from his wrists signaling that the reloading process had finished. "Okay then," the feline murmured nervously. "No time like the present right?" Taking a deep breath, the hybrid surged through the side of the tower and into the frosted air of the outside world. No sooner had he cleared the tower when a crimson wave of energy cut through the air where he had previously been. Skidding to a stop before running on all fours in a zig-zag pattern towards the megatank, the hybrid just barely dodged the megatank's next shock-wave. The energy pulse struck an ice block near the feline, shattering it and sending him skidding across the icy ground. "Is that all you've got, tin can!?" He shouted defiantly, readying his laser arrows. As the megatank turned to face him, the feline rushed forward before somersaulting over the massive, metal sphere. The hybrid aimed his arm at the center of the sphere before unloading a flurry of arrows into its core, now opened and exposed. The arrows struck true and the megatank exploded into a flurry of metal shards, as the feline landed gracefully onto the frozen ground of the tundra. He gazed behind him silently at where the megatank had once stood before a huge grin broke his face and a loud 'woohoo!' could be heard throughout the icy wasteland._

_The massive form of the tower dominated the landscape even when surrounded by mountains. A ripple of light appeared at its base as out from it calmly emerged a geisha. The geisha surveyed the landscape before nodding to herself, content that the mountains had reappeared from the last set of pulsations. At the thought of the mysterious pulses, the geisha glanced in the direction of the red tower, the Tower of Dissonance as she had come to call it. She held her gaze on the horizon for a moment more before turning back to survey the uncharted territory that lay beyond her in the Peaks of Solitude. Walking towards a rock bridge that led deeper into the mountains, the geisha paused at a small series of clanging noises sounded behind her. Whirling around gracefully, the raven-haired girl whipped out her tessen fans which briefly glowed white as energy surged through them. The geisha expected a group of roachsters or bloks to be before her. Instead, she was confronted by a massive, red crab standing menacingly over her. The geisha's eyes widened at its size, having never seen a monster so large before. Her shock nearly cost her, however, as a rapid volley of laser bolts shot from one of the multiple eye-like structures of the crab. Thinking quickly and reflexively, the geisha back-flipped to avoid one volley after another until she finally leaped over a rock to take cover. Pressing her back against the rock, the geisha briefly shut her eyes before opening them in determination. Using one of her fans as a mirror, the geisha waited until the menacing creature got close enough. Hopefully what she guessed about the monster's weakness, if it had one, was correct. Bracing herself, the geisha sprang up onto the the rock that had sheltered her and catapulted herself over the crab, even as it angled itself upwards to try and shoot her. As she soared over the crab she found her target: a large eye-like symbol on the monster's shell. Hurling both of her fans, the geisha landed gracefully on the ground behind the crab even as it's shell shattered and its legs fell uselessly to the ground before disappearing. Standing up, the geisha adeptly caught her fans before continuing her journey into the mountains._

**Post Story Author's Note: So once again thanks for the reviews and keep them coming. And thank you Thriefty for saying my story deserves more reviews and favs. And on the topic of stories deserving more reviews and favs, while you are waiting for the next installment in this story, I would highly recommend _The end of us_ by LightningWolfHowl and _Code: Avengers_ by lyokoMARVELanime. Both are Code Lyoko fanfics (with one being a cross-over) that are both awesome and well-written. So go read them! Or not. The choice is yours I suppose.**

**Anyways, be they reviews, rants, raves, questions, whatever, keep 'em coming!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Author's Note: So thanks to all you reviewers for your feedback, they have been amazing. Now that finals are over, I look to be putting out chapters more often. Since there weren't any questions (except for who the fifth Lyoko Wanderer would be - and I'm not giving that away just yet), this is going to be a short Author's Note. So, without further ado, I hope you enjoy.  
**

**Now on with the story...**

_The samurai crouched on the edge of the Oasis Plateau, eyes unwaveringly set on the plateau beneath him. He was watching for patterns in the sandstorms of the Tornado Peaks. He was certainly glad that he had not run off half-cocked into the storm-swept wastes that he now gazed down upon. For he had believed the Tornado Peaks had been ravaged by only one storm, but the name he had given the lower plateau was an adequate one. The samurai had counted around seven storms already in his section alone. Although he was in no hurry, he had no desire to survey each section one at a time for who knows how long. Which, of course, is why the boy had enlisted some help. Almost as if on cue, two blurs of yellow zoomed towards him before grinding to a halt. Tearing his eyes away from the tumultuous wasteland before him, the warrior stood up and walked over to where his doubles were crouching. Each one was drawing patterns into the sand, with tick marks to indicate the time it took for each storm to cycle through an area. The warrior had tried to get them to talk but to no avail. So far all he could get them to do was nod and draw pictures. Still, he shrugged, it was better than nothing. And so the samurai bent down and etched out his own observations with his sword onto the rock that bore the crude map of the Tornado Peaks. The boy tediously carved as much detail into the map as possible. He was going to have to memorize it, and he wanted nothing to be missing. He finished each path of each tornado with the same tick marks as his doppelgangers used. He had needed to improvise when creating a system to measure time, as there was nothing about the unchanging desert that indicated that time even existed. As such, each tick mark was roughly equal to the time it took the samurai to say a number and 'Tornado Peaks'. The samurai gazed critically over the map as his duplicates finished. He nodded to himself and intoned 'Fusion!'. With that single word spoken, the doubles of the samurai suddenly surged towards and into him. The samurai drew an unnecessary breath at the process, still somewhat unnerved by it. Prior to his discovery of the trigger word, he had needed to rely on focusing his mind in order to activate his 'triplicate' and 'fusion' abilities. The samurai remained crouched down over the now completed map, memorizing it. He was in no hurry. Not yet at least. He wanted to wait for the next series of pulsations to come and pass before venturing out into the already dangerous plateau below. And so, the samurai sat down and studied the detailed map and awaited the moment when he could make use of it._

_"Laser arrow," a somewhat bored voice intoned. Mere seconds later, the wazp that had been flying through the air exploded into so many colorful fragments and pixels. The blond sighed as he cocked his wrist once more, hearing the slight clicking that always accompanied such an action. The wazp itself had been no danger, but the feline knew that if it were to find a few more buddies then it would have surely become aggressive. Right now, though, it had just simply served as target practice for the bored feline. The hybrid's tail twitched slightly. He had by now completely explored his ice-covered home. He had even scaled each and every one of the mysterious towers that loomed in the distance. And of course there was the ice slides and caves and tunnels that weaved throughout the landscape. Yet today, or rather this particular time, as 'today' seemed to be always, found him rather bored and at a loss of what to do. The boy sighed to himself. It was times like this that he really, really wished there was someone, anyone, else around. But no, it was just him. Him and a seemingly vast, but in reality quite small, icy wasteland. The blond briefly went through things he could do. There was always the ice tunnels, but he had just got done with that. He could of course try to explore Blizzard Peaks again, but he did still value his life even if the boredom and loneliness occasionally got the better of him. Then, of course, he could always go monster hunting. He paused for a moment, finger to his chin and eyebrows furrowed. Now that was a pretty good idea. After all, he had never actually actively hunted the creatures of the glacier-covered waste. It would certainly be a welcome change from them hunting him. Still..."Needs something a bit more," he muttered to himself, thinking hard. "Something with a bit more flare..." The felines eyes suddenly lit up and a grin spread across his face at a thought. "Now that sounds like a fun idea!" He exclaimed to no one in particular. He was about to head off in search of a monster, preferably a big one like a blok or krab, to enact his plan on when a sudden pulsation boomed through the wilderness. "Nrrrrr," the feline snarled in annoyance. "Just when I had a good idea to have fun, too!" Reluctantly, the hybrid turned away from his would-be monster hunt and darted for the nearest tower to shelter from the blizzard that was already beginning to form._

_The geisha calmly sauntered towards the Tower of Wisdom, the landscape dissapearing behind her as she walked. She was somewhat dissapointed at not being able to complete her cartouche of the Peaks of Solitude before the pulsations had begun, but she knew that she would be able to finish her work once the still-mysterious pulses had subsided and the mountains had returned. The bottom of the massive tower looming over her began to vanish even as she lightly pressed her hands against the structure's wall and gently phased through it. She gasped reflexively at the seemingly solid barrier rippling around her before entering the calm and tranquil interior of the tower. As she slowly stepped towards the center of the tower, the ever-present chasm of darkness surrounding the platform, the rings of the aforementioned platform lit up. Standing on the central ring, or rather circle, the geisha looked up towards the second platform that hovered right above her. She had always been curious about these mysterious floating platforms ever since she had thought to look up in the towers. She still wondered what they were for and how one could reach them. Many times before, in many other towers, the geisha had attempted to telekinetically lift herself up towards the platform. Unfortunately, even with all the time spent practicing her telekinesis on the outside world and all the times she had spent patiently waiting out the pulsations, she had yet to be able to actually levitate herself. The geisha sometimes believed that lifting herself with her own mind was impossible, but she always shook that thought away. Determination suddenly coursed through her and the geisha put her hands to her head and focused. A white aura surrounded her as she triggered her telekinesis. Cycles had passed before a feeling of something akin to weightlessness caused her to open her eyes. To her surprise, the giesha was actually hovering about a hand-breadth over the floor. Her surprise robbed her of her concentration, however, and the girl stumbled to the ground, her arms waving about to keep her balance. Still, the feeling of success surged through her and a smile graced her lips before she closed her eyes once more and began to focus her mind once again._

Laser bolts flew through the air, slamming into anything in their way, be it rock, tree, or an unfortunate Lyoko Wanderer by the name of William. Said wanderer cried out in shock at the impact of the laser before crouching back behind a rock, hand clutching his shoulder.

"Told ya," Aelita informed him, smirking saucily. William shot a glare at the pink-haired elf. She just shrugged at him nonchalantly. William's retort was cut off by a sudden comment by Jeremy.

"Alright guys, might I remind you that we _are_ on a time-table right now? And by the way William, eighty life points left."

"What's with that anyways?" William asked as he suddenly sprang out from behind the rock he and Aelita were using as cover and sliced an overly-confident blok in half before diving out of the path of a volley of laser bolts. "I mean, life-points? From what you've told me about this 'Franz Hopper' guy, he isn't the type to really be making video games."

Although many of Jeremy's files were still inaccessible due to Xana's attack, the boy genius had managed to discover a series of files under the name of 'Franz Hopper's Diary'. How these files had gotten into his private data storage, Jeremy could only guess, and while most of the files were encrypted, a few seemed to have ironically been decrypted somehow by Xana's attack and so allowed Jeremy access to them.

"Jeremy thinks it's a safety measure," Aelita quickly replied, poking her head out from behind her rock just long enough to summon a boulder over a nearby krab. "Thinks it has something to do with virtual avatar degradation."

"Say what?" William asked, parrying a volley of laser bolts before raising Zweihänder, a white glow crawling up the blade, before swinging it in an arc, releasing an alabaster wave of energy that destroyed the offending kankrelats.

"From what I can tell from Hopper's notes," Jeremy's voice came again, slightly impatient. "Every time your virtual avatar is damaged it loses cohesion. If it wasn't for the 'life-points' system, the materialization program wouldn't be able to bring you back before you were devirtualized forever."

William let out a grunt and stumbled back slightly as a stray laser bolt impacted his chest. Jeremy's voice came again from above.

"And by the way, fifty life-points now. Might want to hurry things along before you get devirtualized."

"Thanks for the encouragement," William drawled, finally having enough of the two krabs that were bombarding the rock he lay behind. "Hey Aelita, you wanna take care of the last kankrelats while I take care of our crabby friends?"

"Well, since you've spent so much time with Jeremy, I guess you're qualified," Aelita acceded, smirking at Jeremy's indignant protest. William just gave a nod as he rushed out from behind his cover, Zweihänder held out in front of him to deflect any incoming laser bolts. Aelita, in the meantime, stepped out from behind her cover, angelic singing filling the air as the ground beneath the kankrelats vanished leaving them to fall to their brilliantly colorful dooms.

The krabs screeched menacingly at William as he drew closer. Swinging his blade forward in a wide arc, nearly dragging himself along with his blade, William cut off the front legs of the nearest krab. As it collapsed to the ground, however, its companion took advantage of William's lack of balance to hit him with a barrage of laser bolts.

"William!" Jeremy's voice came again, a slight hint of panic in his tone. "You only have ten life-points left! One more hit and you're done."

"Got it," William gritted his teeth, as he quickly sliced through the downed krab before leaping off of it, swinging Zweihänder towards the second krab, all the while twisting in the air to avoid the second barrage of lasers. His sword met its mark, and the krab met its end, as William landed with a grunt on the mossy ground, Zweihänder impaling itself slightly into the earth.

"Alright, Aelita," William called out to the virtual elf. "All clear."

Aelita stepped out from behind the massive tree trunk she had temporarily taken cover behind following the volleys of laser fire from the krab. She glanced around the clearing as she walked past William towards the tower.

"Well, at least you didn't get devirtualized this time," she smirked, winking at the raven-haired boy before pressing her hands against the sides of the tower, phasing through it with a slight gasp. William huffed slightly in only partially mock frustration.

"Kinda hard not to be devirtualized when I'm supposed to be the only one taking the risks."

"Well, your not really taking any risks, that's kinda why we asked for your help," Jeremy replied to William's complaint as the tower before William faded its color from red to blue. "Alright, Aelita's deactivated the tower. I'd ask you to escort her back to another tower, but you barely have any life-points and I'd get an earful from Aelita about it."

"Better believe it," Aelita retorted as she phased out of the tower. "Besides, you might want to be getting back to class since we aren't going to be needing to use the return to the past this time round."

Both boys groaned slightly at the prospect of returning to their classes. One because he thought he had more important things to be doing, while the other just disliked school in general, or rather the work and boredom that came with it.

"Sometimes I envy you, Aelita," William said to the pinkette, who only smirked in response and waved goodbye as William was devirtualized from Lyoko.

* * *

"Alright, Jeremy, that's it for your physical. You seem to be quite healthy, but I'd recommend that you start eating more food - I've heard how you've often skipped out on meals from Rosa." Yolanda, Kadic's nurse, informed Jeremy as he put on his shirt. They were in one of the room's of Kadic Academy's infirmary, finishing up Jeremy's annual checkup. "Also it would help if you participated more in some outdoors or athletic activities, and skipping physical education is not helping you in that matter."

"Yes, ma'am," Jeremy replied automatically. He had gotten used to such advice coming from Aelita and William and so replying to said advice in such a manner was becoming almost reflexive. Needless to say, he had no intention of following his response up, not while Xana was still a threat and Aelita was still in danger. Yolanda seemed to sense the boy's lack of sincerity.

"Jeremy," she sighed as she took a seat at her desk to start filing Jeremy's health report. "You need to start taking these things seriously. You won't stay healthy for long if you don't -"

Yolanda's reprimand was suddenly cut of by something between a gasp and a scream. Jeremy's head shot up in concern at the nurse's cry of distress only in time to dodge a bolt of lighting that would have fried his brain had it hit him.

"Xana," Jeremy muttered, dodging another arc of electricity. Edging his way around the Xanafied doctor, Jeremy quickly glanced around the room, looking for an escape root. He briefly considered the door, but if he took that root then he might endanger others and a return trip to the past would most certainly be required. That was when Jeremy's eyes alighted on the room's window which lay slightly ajar. Stealing himself, Jeremy made a dash for the window, barely avoiding the volleys of lightning that followed.

As he hurtled himself over the windowsill, Jeremy was struck in the back by one of Yolanda's lightning bolts. Jeremy grunted in pain as he landed face-first onto the ground below. Picking himself up with a groan, Jeremy took off running as fast as he could. He reached for his pocket for his phone before grimly realizing that he had taken it out for the physical, and without his laptop he had no way of contacting Aelita or William. He was on his own as he raced towards the factory, desperately trying to outrun the Xanafied Yolanda.

* * *

William sat at his desk near the center of the classroom. A look of absolute boredom displayed itself on his face as he rested his head on the palm of one of his hands. He briefly glanced at the empty seat beside him as his teacher droned on about Italian history in said language. Not for the first time, William wondered why, out of all the seats in the classroom, this seat was untaken. He shrugged it off as he casually glanced out the window in an attempt to find something less boring than a history lecture in another language.

His head jerked up away from his palm as he caught sight of something that dispelled all boredom from his mind. Outside the classroom, running towards the forest, was Jeremy. And judging by the shape he was in - not to mention the seemingly quite irate Yolanda that was chasing after him firing arcs of electricity, William was definitely sure the young genius needed help.

"C'è un problema, signor Dunbar?", His teacher asked, apparently drawn to William's sudden movement. William glanced blankly at his teacher for a fraction of a second, some of his classmates looking at him curiously, before replying to the clearly annoyed teacher.

"Uh, I, uh, I don't feel too well, sir. May I go to the infirmary?"

"Alright, if you must," His teacher assented, probably more to get William out of the classroom than anything else, but William took advantage of that and quickly exited the classroom before his teacher could change his mind.

As soon as he was out the classroom, William took off running towards the nearest doorway that would lead him out of the building. Fortunately, William encountered no teachers or staff in the hallways of Kadic and was able to discreetly exit the building. Following the scorch marks that adorned various trees in the forest, William ran through the woods after Jeremy and his attacker.

He arrived in the clearing where the sewer entrance lay, just in time to see the manhole cover ajar with Jeremy being held over it, crying out in pain as a clearly Xana-possessed Yolanda electrocuted him.

"Hey!" William shouted, drawing Yolanda's attention and distracting her long enough for William to tackle her to the ground. Jeremy fell to the ground with a thud and a grunt. The scrawny genius picked himself up shakily as he shot a look of gratitude at his rescuer.

"Go!" William ordered, jerking his head in the direction of the manhole while wrestling to keep the Xanafied nurse down. "Get to the factory and help Aelita! I'll take care of Yolanda!"

Jeremy just nodded in response before quickly climbing down the ladder that lay within the manhole. Seconds after his head had disappeared, William was thrown off by Yolanda into a nearby tree. Propping himself up against it, William looked up to see a furious Yolanda stalking towards him, electricity crackling in his hands.

"Guess I'm gonna get my health inspection a bit early," William muttered to himself as he pushed himself up and darted past the Xanafied Yolanda, attempting to lead her away from the sewers. As arcs of lightning flew past him, scorching shrubs and trees, William could only guess that he had succeeded. Now if only Jeremy and Aelita could get there jobs done before he was fried to a crisp.

* * *

Aelita weaved and bobbed through the trees of Lyoko on the overwing. As soon as she had heard the pulsations she had headed to the nearest tower and used its interface to materialize the overwing right outside the structure. Now she pushed the overwing's speed to its limits as she crossed almost the entirety of Lyoko.

As Aelita guided the overwing around tree trunks and hanging vines, she began to feel a sense of dread build in her. She had been in the Southern Forest at the time when she had heard the first pulsations, and since then she had been following them unwaveringly due north. North. To the north lay the only point on Lyoko where the transport sphere could be summoned. Jeremy had not yet found out why this was the case, why the transport sphere could not be summoned anywhere else, even on the other edges of Lyoko, and quite frankly Aelita could care less. After her experience with the scyphozoa, as they had begun calling it, Aelita had no desire to be spirited away to Carthage again. Not alone anyways. As such, Aelita had begun avoiding even setting foot in the Northern Forest, and yet almost every Xana attack of late had come from there or the Marsh, the second-most northern section of Lyoko.

Still, Aelita knew she had to enter the Northern Forest once more, even if it meant risking capture. She had a duty, not just to her friends, but to everyone else who would be endangered if Xana won. Sometimes, though, Aelita thought that her friends were risking too much on her account. Despite the risks to themselves and thousands if not millions of others, they kept trying to save her from Xana's clutches. Sometimes it was just too much for Aelita to think about. They may have been fine with the risks, but Aelita was not. She could barely stand the thought that she was endangering the lives of countless others. She was not even human, just a computer program, and yet human lives were being risked to save her.

She was cut short from her grim musings by the sight of the activated tower. She had arrived in the Northern Forest.

Setting the overwing down behind a cluster of boulders, Aelita slowly made her way up the rocks to peer over their tops. In front of the tower stood roughly a half dozen bloks, each watching, anxiously awaiting their prey. And Aelita knew this for a fact. If Xana had wanted to keep the tower secure he would have sent a couple of krabs or a megatank, but instead her had sent a platoon of bloks. He was waiting for her to approach the tower where he would have the bloks freeze her and push her to the northernmost edge of Lyoko and into the waiting clutches of Carthage. It had happened once before, but fortunately William had been there to free her.

Aelita slithered back down the pile of boulders. Once at the bottom, she focused her mind onto the network and attempted to contact Jeremy. There was no response. Aelita tried again, calling out to her friend through both his laptop, the computer in his room, and the supercomputer interface. Nothing.

Aelita tried to be calm, but it was difficult. The thoughts she had pondered on prior to this did not help either. Aelita clenched her fists in determination, however, as she forced herself to take a step away from the situation and _calm_ down. Her mind steadied as the emotions clouding them settled. Face set in determination, she once again looked out from behind the boulders towards the six bloks. While she waited for Jeremy to contact her, Aelita would at least be trying to figure out how exactly she would defeat the monsters should she have to go it alone.

* * *

Jeremy ran across the bridge that led to the factory, his entire body burning from the electrical current that had been forced through it. Bracing himself, Jeremy leaped off the edge of the first floor of the factory, grabbing hold of one of the ropes as he did so. His hands burned as he slid down the rough cord. He landed on the ground with a loud grunt, barely managing not to keel over onto the hard, concrete floor.

Catching his breath, Jeremy pushed himself to his feet and ran over to the elevator, hand slamming onto the open button. He rushed inside as the elevator door opened, slamming his hand once more against a control mechanism.

Once the elevator began to make its descent, Jeremy allowed himself to relax a little, now that the immediate danger was out of the way. Still, he could not afford to idle around, as William was in very real danger of being electrocuted to death by Yolanda.

The elevator jerked to a halt and opened to reveal a large gold and grey vault-like door. Quickly typing in the code, Jeremy waited impatiently as the mechanisms within the door unlocked and it slid open. Rushing to the supercomputer's interface, Jeremy quickly sat down and put on his headset.

"Aelita? Aelita, are you there?" Jeremy called, attempting to contact the virtual elf even as he typed in commands to get a better view of the situation on Lyoko.

"Oh, Jeremy! You're alright!" Aelita's voice suddenly came from the computer, her face appearing on the interface, looking about as relieved as Jeremy to see her friend. "I've reached the tower, but Xana's surrounded it with bloks, six of them. I could really use William's help right about now."

Jeremy paused for a moment, taking a breath. He knew what the presence of the bloks meant. They meant that Xana was trying to capture Aelita once again. Reluctantly, he told the pinkette the bad news.

"Aelita, William's not -"

The door to the computer lab hissed open once again, and Jeremy spun around, fearing the worst. His fears were unfounded, however, as an exhausted-looking William tottered out of the elevator.

"William! Are you alright, do you think your up for going to Lyoko?"

The older boy looked up at Jeremy, hands on his knees as he bent over to catch his breath. He shook his head at Jeremy.

"I'm up for it, but Yolanda isn't far behind me. She started to lose interest in me after the first few beatings I took. I came here to make sure she wouldn't finish the job she started."

Jeremy was touched by the older boy's concern for him, but he quickly snapped back into his 'commander mode', as Aelita had taken to calling it.

"How long do you think she'll be?" Jeremy asked, already typing in the commands that would lower the elevator and lock it down.

"A few minutes maybe?" William guessed before glancing over at the supercomputer interface. "Is Aelita close to the tower?"

"I'm near it, but there are six bloks guarding it." The virtual elf replied, glancing at William before turning back to Jeremy. "What are you going to do?"

Jeremy put his hands together and rested his chin on them. There was one thing they could try, but it would be risky.

"Aelita," Jeremy asked. "Do you remember what we were working on with the specters?"

Aelita looked slightly shocked at the question, while William only had a look of confusion.

"Are you sure, Jeremy?" Aelita asked, glancing with concern at William. "I mean it could be risky."

"What could be risky?" William burst out, somewhat irritated at being out of the loop. Aelita and Jeremy exchanged a look before the latter responded.

"Well, theoretically it would be possible for me to activate a tower and draw on the excess static energy of the net and channel it into creating a specter, kind of like what Xana does."

"Go on," William encouraged Jeremy, starting to get an inkling as to what the younger boy was getting onto. Jeremy hesitated slightly before continuing.

"Well, I would be able to use that specter to enhance someone in the real world, essentially making them as strong as a Xanafied person. In theory at least."

"So like...Jeremification?" William asked, noting Jeremy's slight grimace at the word and Aelita's soft giggle at it.

"Well, I guess so," Jeremy conceded. "Anyways, we haven't tested it yet, so it could be risky."

"I'll do it," William volunteered before Jeremy could continue citing the safety risks. The young genius stared blankly at William for a moment before shaking his head.

"You sure, William, I mean...we don't know what the risks might be," Jeremy warned. William just shrugged it off.

"Well, we know what will happen if Yolanda gets here, so fire it up. Besides, it'll be nice to finally be able to give Xana a taste of his own medicine."

"Alright then," Jeremy nodded, turning back to the supercomputer. "Aelita, you start working on getting to the tower, and we'll hold out as long as we can up here."

"Alright, Jeremy, be safe," Aelita replied before disappearing from the screen.

"You, too," Jeremy mummered softly. William gave the younger boy a sympathetic glance before urging him on.

"Alright, let's do this."

Jeremy forwent responding as he began to type in command after command into the supercomputer. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity to William, Jeremy let out a soft shout of triumph.

"Okay, got it! Get ready to be enhanced by the specter. Don't worry though, you'll still be in control of your own actions."

Jeremy input a few more commands before resoundingly pressing a final key. After he did so, arcs of electricity began to build up around the room before coalescing into the all too familiar form of a specter. The shapeless form merged with William before he had time to react.

His fists and eyes clenched shut as energy poured through him, electrifying and invigorating what felt like every fiber of his being. He could feel a tingling throughout his entire body as it briefly pixelized and became static. When the process was down, William opened his eyes and let out a wide grin.

"How are you feeling?" Jeremy asked, a concerned look on his face.

"Fully charged," William's voice reverberated before he headed towards the elevator shaft on his way to confront Yolanda once more. This time, however, it would be on even grounds.

* * *

Aelita retreated back behind the cover of the boulders, body pressed against the smooth sheltering rock. She had an idea, but it was a risky one and would require equal parts focus and luck. Closing her eyes, Aelita pictured the landscape in her mind once more. She pictured the moss-covered ground, the bloks, the rocks and pebbles, the very virtual air itself. All of this she focused on to increase her precision. Finally, she was ready.

Opening her eyes and clenching her fists slightly, Aelita stepped out from behind her boulder and knelt onto the ground. Angelic singing reverberated through the air as she focused her mind and energy on her task. Needless to say, the bloks were quick to notice the exposed elf, but as they began to approach her a series of crevices began to form in the virtual ground. Within seconds the cracks became gaping holes in the earth which consumed all but one of the bloks. Five simultaneous beams of light shot up from the digital sea as the remaining blok made its way towards Aelita.

The virtual elf opened her eyes and collapsed to the ground in exhaustion, barely remaining conscious. Although she had been practicing her creativity, it still took much from her, especially when creating such a complex structure as the networks of cracks that had just been formed - and something else as well.

Aelita shakily lifted her head up, as the last blok neared her, spinning around and charging up its ice beam. The familiar high-pitched shriek of the beam sounded in Aelita's ears as she instinctively covered her face with her arms. The freezing beam, however, did not strike the pink-haired elf, but instead froze the ground in front of her, as the attacking blok seemingly fell through solid ground.

Aelita rose shakily to her feet, slowly regaining her strength. Only when a beam of brilliant white and blue light erupted from the sea below did the ground where the blok had been flicker sporadically out of existence as the illusion was broken. Aelita had altered the ground in front of her to be a hole with an illusion placed over it just in the highly probable case one or more of the bloks survived her immense web of cracks.

Making her way slowly around the cracks and crevices in the ground, Aelita followed as fast as she could the twisty path of earth she had left intact. She breathed a sigh of relief as she finally reached where the activated tower stood. She hastened towards the tower, hoping that she was not too late.

* * *

William flew across the room from the immense force of a backhand by the Xana-possessed Yolanda. He slammed to a halt into one of the metal support columns of the factory, impacting it so hard as to bend the metal column significantly. He felt no pain, however, as he pushed himself off the ground, body crackling and pixelating slightly. He smirked at the approaching Yolanda, who was readying another sphere of energy to throw at him. He easily dodged the attack before responding with his own, blasting the Xanafied teacher backwards into a series of support pylons. For most of their fight he had maintained the upper-hand, easily outmaneuvering and outsmarting the powerful, yet significantly less intelligent, specter which was possessing Yolanda.

"Huh, I've got to let Jeremy do this more often. This is as cool as going to Lyoko," William thought out loud as Yolanda picked herself up with a amplified growl.

"You want some more?" William asked cockily, raising his hand to form an energy field. "Alright, then, I'll give you some!"

With that, William prepared to throw the building sphere of energy, but just as he was about to, the energy field dissipated with a pitiful sizzling. William glanced in surprise at his now empty raised hand, before turning his head to face Yolanda once more.

"Uh, oh," He muttered as the Xanafied teacher rushed towards him, energy building in both of her hands. William tried to dodged but suddenly fell to his knees, weakly clutching at his body. He felt like he was being drained of not only the energy of the specter but also that of his own body. William's eyes widened as Yolanda prepared to incinerate him, which was most likely certainly possible at this point. Suddenly, just as she was about to slam the energy spheres onto William, Yolanda pixelated slightly and fell to the ground with a gasp, the specter shrieking out of her as her energy fields dissipated as well.

"Well done, Aelita," William groaned as he barely managed to pick himself up. Something was very wrong. He could feel himself getting weaker by the second.

"Jeremy, what's going on? I feel like I'm being drained of all my energy," William asked of the boy genius, having quickly dialed Jeremy's phone with his. The boy genius was quick to answer his cellphone and respond.

"William, Xana's managed to take control of the tower I activated. He's not trying to possess you, but he is draining you of your energy. I've sent Aelita to go deactivate the tower. Hopefully she gets there in time."

"What do you mean get there in time?" William asked, slowly collapsing against the metal wall behind him. He had a pretty good idea what Jeremy had meant, and it was only confirmed when Jeremy replied.

"The way and rate Xana is draining you is potentially fatal if it continues long enough. You have to hang on until Aelita can deactivate the tower. Just hold on."

"Easy for you to say," William muttered grimly, his cellphone dropping from his hand as the strength to hold even that left him. William struggled to remain conscious as he began to slump closer to the floor, sliding down the metal wall of the factory.

"Just get there quick, Aelita," William softly urged the virtual girl before darkness overwhelmed him.

* * *

Aelita swerved past trees and vines on the overwing as she hurled towards the Central Forest, the location of the tower Jeremy had activated. The tower that was now under Xana's control.

'Two towers in one day,' Aelita thought blandly as she attempted to increase the overwing's speed. 'Guess that breaks the record of towers deactivated in a day.'

Rounding a bend, Aelita nearly let out a rather unsavory word she had picked up during her short time on Earth. Ahead of her, surrounding the tower, were three krabs. Xana wanted to make sure that today held a casualty.

Aelita's lips curled slightly upward in a silent snarl and she narrowed her eyes at the imposing krabs. William was out there risking his life for Jeremy and her, and she was not going to let him down. She was never going to do that.

Face set in grim determination, Aelita gunned the overwing forward, setting a course for the forward krab. The monsters snarled as Aelita approached. Charging their lasers and firing, Aelita dodged the blasts until she was close enough.

With a shout, Aelita jumped up and away from the overwing just as it was hit by a laser bolt. The overwing whirled around and around until it impacted with a very surprised and now very devirtualized krab.

Aelita continued to fly through the air, using her momentum to carry her near the tower. Landing on the ground, Aelita rolled across it, avoiding the laser fire of the other krabs, before leaping through the wall of the tower.

Aelita surged through the wall as she sprinted onto the platform, the rings on it lighting up.

* * *

Jeremy watched as William's energy was slowly being drained by Xana. _Twenty Percent. Fifteen Percent. Ten percent._

All of Jeremy's focus was now on Aelita, as he willed her to deactivate the tower in time to save William from his untimely demise. William's energy continued to drain as he saw Aelita make her way past three krabs, destroying one somehow in the process, before entering the tower.

* * *

Aelita gently somersaulted in the air as she floated up towards the next platform. Landing on it gracefully, Aelita quickly summoned the control interface, pressing her hand on the screen.

Her name flashed across the screen: _Aelita_.

Flashing away, the word _Code_ appeared on the screen, even as Aelita pressed her hand once more against the interface to enter the code: _Lyoko_.

* * *

William groaned slightly as he slowly regained consciousness. For a moment he lay against the metal wall of the factory confused. Looking around, William caught sight of an unconscious Yolanda, still passed out from her ordeal.

William slowly pushed himself to his feet as he walked towards the elevator shaft. Slowly he could feel his energy returning to him. 'Maybe not as cool as Lyoko,' William thought to himself, as he pressed the descent button in the elevator.

* * *

Aelita stood anxiously in the tower, waiting for Jeremy's report on the situation.

"Well?" She asked, concerned for her older friend's safety. She could hear taping in the background signaling that Jeremy had the comm on but was not responding. "Jeremy?"

"I-I don't know Aelita," Jeremy replied, a slight worried tone to his voice. "Xana almost completely drained him of his energy. Not all of it, but maybe that was enough to-"

"To what? You aren't gonna get rid of me that fast, Einstein."

Aelita smiled in relief, closing her eyes gratefully at the sound of William's voice coming through the comm system, even if it was a bit shaky. She could hear Jeremy breath a sigh of relief.

"Alright then," Came Jeremy's voice as he seemed to come to a decision. "Never doing that again, using specters is just too dangerous."

Aelita vaguely heard William respond in agreement as an idea suddenly came to her. True, Jeremy had said specters were dangerous, but only if used to possess and enhance a person. What if...

Aelita considered telling Jeremy her idea, but dismissed it quickly. She wanted to look into it more herself. Besides, she thought with a small smile. It would make a nice surprise for her friends if it worked.

_The samurai crouched in the sandstorm cave, sheltering from the storm that had nearly caught him completely by surprise. He had been racing through the Tornado Peaks, making sure to stay well ahead of the storms that he had studied for so long. Unfortunately, it appeared that he and his doubles had missed one, however, and he had been forced to find shelter. Fortunately he had found a small cave nearby, the one he was currently resting in. He leaned back against the coarse wall of the cave, attempting to shake off the effects the sudden sandstorm had on him. To pass the time, the samurai began to draw a crude map of what he had seen of the plateau so far. It lacked detail, for sure, but it was a start and certainly helped pass the time and would be well protected by the cave. The boy suddenly paused in his etching as a clicking noise met his ears. Leaping to his feet and whirling around, the samurai was confronted by three roachsters that had emerged from the small crevices that lay in the back of the cave. The samurai drew his sword, but his time in the sandstorm had made him sluggish. The first laser blast hit him squarely on the shoulder, and he barely managed to deflect the other two. Not giving the roachsters anytime to launch another attack, the samurai shouted, "supersprint!", and surged forward, slicing his sword through all three of the roachsters at once. As they shattered into pieces, the samurai impaled his katana slightly into the ground and rested on it. Briefly, he wondered if he should keep going forward. He shook his head to clear it of the fog that was filling it. No, it would be much wiser for him to withdraw from the storm-wracked peaks. Once back at his oasis, the samurai could study the storms further and make another attempt at an expedition. With that decided, the boy sat down on the sandstone floor to wait out the storm._

_The feline grinned from his perch, his paws clutching at the icy surface to maintain his balance. His target was finally in sight: a krab patrolling under one of the many ice bridges that populated the similarly named plateau. "Gotcha this time," the hybrid purred to himself cockily. Tail lashing, he suddenly leaped from his perch as the krab passed beneath him. "Look out beloooow!" He shouted as he landed on the shell of the very confused and very vexed krab. As the krab spun and bucked, the blond-haired boy dug his claws deep into the shell of the krab - a difficult thng to do to be sure, but still easier than digging his claws into the rocky exterior of a blok. The feline swore he would never try to do that again. Getting a good grip on the krab, the feline steadied his hind legs and pulled his claws across the krabs shell, causing it to shriek and surge forwards. "Woohoo!" The feline cried out at the krab's increase in pace. "Now, right!" He grunted as he drew said claws slightly across the krab's shell, causing the monster to veer in that direction. This went on for some time until the feline accidentally steered the now very infuriated krab into one of its friends. The other krab had apparently been patrolling the Ice Bridges, too. Needless to say, it did not expect to be rammed shell-first by one of its brethren. Nor did it expect its fellow krab to have a purple cat clinging to its shell. The force of the impact knocked the feline off of the krab. Tumbling to the ground, the hybrid looked up from the icy ground to see two very angry krabs looming over him. "Uh, oh," he gulped at the two infuriated monsters. Maybe this had not been such a good idea after all._

_The geisha ran through the rugged footpaths of the Peaks of Solitude, clutching a fan in each hand. Behind her was a swarm of a half dozen hornets. Before her was a seemingly dead end consisting of a steep incline. 'Only have one shot at this,' the geisha thought to herself as she pushed herself even harder towards the steep sloping surface. Building up speed, the girl ran up the rock wall and leaped high into the air towards the swarm of hornets. 'Here goes nothing,' the geisha breathed silently as she held her fans out and began to spin herself around and around through the air. The blades of her fans glowed brightly as she sliced through the swarm of hornets with ease, hitting each one with precision and accuracy, all the while spinning like a whirling dervish. Still flying through the air, the geisha slowed her spin and landed gracefully on the edge of the mountain, folding up her fans up as she did so. "A bit too close for comfort," she muttered as she backed away from the edge of the cliff she could have easily fallen over. Checking to make sure her fans were secure, the geisha surveyed the surrounding landscape for more hornets. Seeing none, the geisha continued back down the path, away from the dead end, as she resumed her exploration of the mist-covered mountains. As she walked, she passed through a slight shadow. Looking up, the geisha smiled softly at the sight of a lone tree, clinging desperately to the mountainside. The tree reminded the geisha of herself to an extent. Both of them were alone, and both of them had to deal with the dangers of the mountains in their own way. Casting one last glance up at the tree, the geisha continued on her way._

**Post Story Author's Note: So once more, thanks for the reviews and keep them coming! Now as I was finishing up my Author's Note at the top, I realized that there had been a question (of sorts) about what Hiroki's outfit would look like. I haven't quite set it to stone, although I do have an idea, but I am open to suggestions so feel free to do so. Also, at one point William's teacher addresses him in Italian.****** (Anyone know the Italian teacher's name by the way? I can't find it.)** It is supposed to say "Is there a problem, Mister Dunbar". Since I used Google Translate for this, I apologize to anyone who actually knows the language if this is incorrect.**

**Anyways, please review, rant, flame, critique, whatever, just keep the input coming!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Author's Note: Thanks for the reviews everyone! And thanks for your idea, lyokowarrior. While Hiroki won't be wielding shurikens or kunai, when I looked up the kunai knives I found a whole list of awesome ninja weapons. Now I just have to decide on which one he will wield. Also, thanks for the idea about the wall-running, it's quite an interesting idea and one I had somehow not thought of.**

**Now on with the story...**

_The brunette gazed out across the Tornado Plains watching a rare calm in the turbulent plateau. He had begun a new expedition and this time was far more prepared than he was prior. Prepared enough to predict a period of relative calm in the dead center of the Tornado Plains. He shook himself from the sight, however, as he knew that the calm would not last for long. It had been a risky enough decision to stay and sight-see the break in the near-perpetual sandstorm. Now he had to find shelter in order to wait for the next, albeit far less spectacular, calm. The samurai scanned the surroundings for the sandstone caves he had spotted earlier. Eyes alighting on them, the warrior strode over to the caves, crouching down to fit through the entrance. As he headed deeper into the cave, he could hear the wind outside pick up once again as one of the plateau's many sandstorms tore through the area. Suddenly the samurai lost his footing. Much to his surprise and shock, the warrior tumbled down a narrow but steep slope, finally coming to a sudden stop at the bottom courtesy of a rock wall. With a groan, the samurai pushed himself to his feet. Looking up, the samurai's jaw dropped at the sight of a series of dimly lit tunnels that continued deeper into the plateau. Getting to his feet, the boy took in the nearby labyrinth of tunnels. The samurai had never seen a cave system this large or complex anywhere else in his desert. The only place that could compare was the Maze, but even that was above ground. The warrior stood at the juncture looking between the different passages before looking back up the way he had fallen. He could certainly make it back up but it would take some effort. Still, the tunnels were certainly worth investigating. For a while, the samurai stood in the dim yellowish light pondering his next move. Finally coming to a decision, the samurai resolutely drew his saber and cut a notch in one of the tunnel entrances before heading down into the tunnel and towards whatever awaited him in it._

_The human-feline hybrid crouched on the edge of Waterfall Peak, head resting on his paws as he gazed into the clear flowing water. He had found that if he was ever bored or lonely, he could come here and let the mesmerizing sparkling of the water sooth his mind. It was probably the closest thing to 'calm' that he ever got. At present, he was quietly considering what he should do next. He was in no hurry, for once, however. Instead, he lazily placed a paw into the icy water, curious at to what it might feel like. Even submerged in the seemingly icy liquid, however, his hand seemed to feel nothing. Or close to nothing anyway. He could almost swear that he could just barely feel the flow of the water and its icy coldness. A sudden screeching noise drew him from his thoughts, and, with a flick of his paw to rid it of any stray water, the hybrid got to his feet, looking around for the source of the strange noise. He did not have to look for long, however, as out from behind an ice bank emerged a massive brown and tan creature with a white saddle-like head. Seeing the feline, the creature roared once more, kneeling on its hind legs and raising its front ones. The ones that looked suspiciously like cannons. The feline did not hesitate in instantly unloading a volley of arrows while dodging to the side in anticipation of the laser bolts that followed quickly afterwards. Rolling behind an ice bank, the hybrid quickly glanced around the side before jerking back and growling slightly to himself. His laser arrows that had hit the creature seemed to have had no effect. Cracks began to form on the ice bank he was sheltering behind as the creature continued to bombard it with laser bolts. "Alright, then, let's try this again," the boy muttered to himself, cocking his right wrist. As the ice block shattered, the hybrid leaped out from behind it with a shout and let out another volley of arrows._

_Silver light formed an aura around the geisha as she focused her mind, pressing her fingertips to her forehead in concentration. As her concentration deepened, the light surrounding her grew more intense, and she began to slowly but surely rise from the lower platform of the tower. Although she would usually use the time between pulsations to explore the mountains she lived in, her curiosity and determination drove her to first attempt to discover the secret of the second platform that lay within each tower. Already the geisha had spent nearly a period in the Tower of Wisdom. She had spent the time doing nothing but meditating and honing her telekinetic ability of levitation. And now, at last, she was ready. Feeling her mind clear and gain complete focus, the geisha's slow descent gradually quickened as she floated up towards the upper platform. So great was her focus, however, and so quick was her ascent, that she did not realize until it was too late that the platform was right above her head. The girl was slammed out of her concentration as she impacted head first with the second platform. Nearly losing consciousness due to the shock, the geisha could feel herself begin to fall. Quickly, almost instinctively, she shot out a hand and managed to grab the edge of the smaller platform. Her body jerked and swayed from the sudden stop, and she hung there for a moment, regaining her composure. Having recovered from being jerked out of her trance-like state so quickly, the geisha slowly pulled herself up onto the platform before her mind gave out and darkness engulfed her._

Aelita tapped furiously away at the console before her. She was almost ready to enact her plan. If all went accordingly, she would be seeing her friends in the real world shortly. Kind of. She had chosen Tower One to enact her plan. She felt that was fitting in a way. This was the tower where Jeremy had first found her. He had even named the surrounding sector 'Aelita's Forest', much to the virtual girl's perpetual embarrassment. But it was the only forest he had specifically named, and so she didn't complain. Too much at least.

Finally, with a resolute tap, Aelita finished her program and placed her hand on the interface to activate the tower. That done, Aelita knelt down and immersed her mind in the network, focusing and directing the energy of the tower.

* * *

Jeremy walked through the hallway of the dormitory towards his room, head down and hands in his pockets. He was thinking about his most recent attempt at creating an anti-virus for Aelita, one that could have ended with Jeremy and William dead and Aelita with no way to enter the towers. The boy sighed to himself. Maybe...maybe he was just not good enough. He did not like admitting it, but despite the fact that he, out of all their little group, was the most skilled at using the supercomputer, there was still so much he could just not understand about it. Maybe...

"Hey, Jeremy, there you are," William's voice interrupted Jeremy's gloomy train of thought. He turned to face his older friend who seemed to notice his current moody state. "You're not still obsessing over what happened with Aelita, are you?"

"What gave it away?" Jeremy asked ruefully, though he was somewhat curious about how his friends also seemed to be able to tell what he was thinking, or rather 'brooding' as they called it. William just gave a shrug in return.

"Well, you're always thinking about Lyoko or Xana or Aelita, and, since you're looking gloomier than usual, I figured it had to do with Aelita's most recent anti-virus."

"Or lack thereof," Jeremy replied flatly, a bit perturbed at William's description of him. William glanced sharply at his younger friend, who seemed determined to beat himself up over every mistake.

"Hey, don't think like that, Jeremy," William stressed, walking slightly ahead of the younger boy to stand in front of him. Jeremy was forced to a halt as William lightly jabbed a figure into Jeremy's chest. "If you keep on going like that then there really won't be an anti-virus for Aelita. You can't let failure get in your way. Aelita's told me how you kept on going when you were trying to materialize her. You failed a lot of times then, didn't you? But you got it in the end."

"And now look where that's gotten us," Jeremy snapped, rolling his right shoulder slightly as William's jab had smarted a little more than the older boy had probably intended. "Aelita has a virus that ties her to Xana. And on top of all that, I can't even get the superscan to work again, so she's stuck on Lyoko."

"Yeah? Well let's all feel sorry for Jeremy, then," William jibed, crossing his arms as he was clearly becoming annoyed with his younger friend. "Everything he tries doesn't work all the time. Guess you've got to live like the rest of us."

Jeremy jerked his head up to glare at William, a retort on the tip of his tongue. He hesitated, however, before lowering his head slightly. William was right. There was no point in beating himself up fruitlessly. It wouldn't help him repair the superscan and it sure wouldn't help Aelita be rid of that damnable virus.

"Guess I deserved that, huh?" Jeremy replied, rubbing his neck with a hand and slightly giving a sheepish smile. William smirked in response, finally letting Jeremy continue walking to his dorm room.

"Yep, you sure did," William joked, gently pushing Jeremy's shoulder good-naturedly. "You needed something to get you to stop moping about Aelita's anti-virus."

Jeremy reached for a reply but changed his mind and just shook his head, chuckling slightly at his own stubbornness. Seeing Jeremy's mood improve, William decided to tease him some more.

"So, speaking of Aelita," William enounced, glancing mischievously at Jeremy. "I heard you got a little grabby when her anti-virus went all haywire."

"T-that...s-she...I-I couldn't see her! She was invisible!" Jeremy stammered in embarrassment, his face turning pinker than Aelita's hair. William just laughed at Jeremy's embarrassment.

"Are you sure that's why? I mean you could hear her voice right in front of you, right? Are you sure you didn't just-"

"No! It was just an accident," Jeremy nearly shouted, glaring at the older boy as he opened the door to his room. "How was I supposed to know she was right in front of me?"

"Well if you didn't think I was right in front of you then what _were_ you waving your hands about for?"

William and Jeremy jerked to a stop as a new voice joined their conversation. From within Jeremy's room! The two boys could only stand at the doorway eyes wide and mouths hanging open, as they saw Aelita sitting on Jeremy's bed smirking saucily at them.

"A-Aelita!" Jeremy stammered, growing even more red in the face as he realized Aelita had heard their conversation, eliciting a small giggle from the pinkette. "H-how...w-what are you doing here? I-I mean...you're...Lyoko..."

Aelita let out another flurry of giggles at the obviously flustered Jeremy, before putting her hand to her chest as if offended.

"Jeremy, I thought you'd be glad to see me," she mourned playfully, her slight smile and the gleam in her eye giving away her facade. Jeremy just stood in the doorway speechless for a few more seconds before shaking his head to clear his thoughts.

"I-of course I'm glad to see you," Jeremy said, finally walking into his room along with William. "It's just...aren't you worried Xana might attack while you're not on Lyoko?"

"Who said I'm not on Lyoko?" Aelita asked, quirking an eyebrow. William gave her a puzzled, somewhat concerned glance, possibly wondering if all her time on Lyoko alone had not affected her a bit.

"Um, what do you mean Aelita? Aren't you sitting right here?"

"Am I? I could have sworn I was sitting in a tower," Aelita replied, tapping a finger to her chin, feigning deep thought, before she shrugged and added joking. "Oh well, Jeremy's room and the inside of a tower are so similar anyways. They're filled with programs and computer interfaces and no one sleeps in either."

"Hey, I do sleep at night, you know," Jeremy protested, crossing his arms at the pinkette. Following a pointed look from the girl, he muttered, "sometimes".

"So what do you mean, 'sitting in a tower'," William asked, turning the conversation back to Aelita.

"You mean you haven't guessed already?" Aelita asked, looking pointedly at her two friends. Jeremy suddenly felt a wave of clarity as he realized what Aelita was talking about.

"A specter!" Jeremy exclaimed, eliciting a raised eyebrow from William. "You're using a tower to project a polymorphic specter of yourself into the real world all the while remaining on Lyoko!"

His wave of clarity was quickly followed by a wave of annoyance.

"I thought I made it clear that using specters was too dangerous."

"Yeah, you did," William put in, not looking particularly fond of the memory. "And I know it firsthand. What were you thinking, Aelita?"

Aelita rolled her eyes at the two boys. "I was thinking that a specter's only dangerous if you use it on a person and Xana takes over the tower and starts sucking the life out of them. But what's Xana gonna do with my specter? Take over the tower while I'm in it?" Aelita snorted derisively at the thought. "Yeah, like _that'll_ work out for him. Besides, if I wanted to I could probably make my own specter anyways, but that would leave me vulnerable to an attack by Xana."

"Wait, you can do that?" William exclaimed, looking somewhat incredulous.

"Well, probably," Aelita shrugged. "I mean I can use the network pretty much like Xana can. I am a computer program after all. And besides, I've helped Jeremy out more than once with it."

"It's true," Jeremy inserted thoughtfully, nodding his head slightly. "Aelita is able to initiate such actions on the network without the aide of the towers. I never considered the possibility of her creating a specter, though."

"Neither had I," Aelita replied, shrugging again. "Until recently, at least, but even then I figured using a tower would be a more stable and certainly safer approach."

"Hold on a second," William interrupted, holding his hands up. "Are you saying that Aelita can pretty much do whatever Xana can do _without_ a tower? Am I the only one who finds that a little disturbing?"

Aelita and Jeremy exchanged a look before turning back to William and shrugging.

"Not really," they replied simultaneously, before Aelita added with a smirk, "Why William? Do something that'll get you on my bad side?"

"Um, no," William said, shooting another glance at the girl before interjecting suddenly. "You know what? Forget I asked. I'm just going to try to ignore the fact that I'm friends with two people who can use a virtual world to do just about whatever they want."

Jeremy just shrugged again, while Aelita held back another fit of giggles before looking like she just remembered something important.

"Oh, I just remembered. Jeremy?" Aelita announced turning to look at her friend, who had taken a seat in his chair. "Where's Kiwi?"

"Oh, uh, Kiwi?" Jeremy replied, referring to the strange mix-breed dog Aelita had found wandering about the schoolyard one day and decided to adopt. Jeremy had been coerced by Aelita into caring for the mutt while she was on Lyoko. "He's, uh, he's in William's room."

"Huh, what's he doing there?" Aelita asked, turning her questioning gaze to William.

"Eh, Jeremy's not really a dog person," William shrugged nonchalantly. "Or really _any_ kind of pet person, so I figured I'd help him out a little. Besides, I'm sure Kiwi appreciates the change. At least he's getting fed regularly now."

"Hey I kept him fed!" Jeremy protested as Aelita turned a somewhat scathing gaze towards him. She glared at him a bit more before he broke. "OK, so I might have forgotten a few times - but he made sure I knew I can tell you that!"

Aelita's gaze suddenly turned towards Jeremy's ragged pair of slippers. "I was wondering what had happened to those," she muttered before shaking her head slightly. "Well I guess no foul, no harm, right?"

Jeremy and William exchanged a glance.

"Uh, Aelita, it's no _harm_, no _foul_" Jeremy corrected to which Aelita just gave a slight eye-roll. The boy could tell that she was making a mental note of it, however, as she always did when he corrected the figures of speech she attempted to use.

"Well, I guess that this was a successful test run," Aelita announced, standing up suddenly, her form flickering a bit. She glanced down as her form stabilized once more. "I've still got a few more bugs to work out but I should be ready to come back tomorrow. Or look like I've come back at least. How's my alibi holding out anyways?"

"Eh, starting to wear out its welcome," William reported, shaking his hand slightly to emphasize his point as Jeremy nodded in confirmation.

"Alright, then," Aelita announced. "I guess I better get going with that diagnostic program. And provided you inform Mr. Delmas of my arrival, I'll be ready by tomorrow to 'return' to school."

With that, Aelita waved a hesitant good-bye to her friends before the three dimensional outlines of her spectral form began to glow an intense blue before dissipating in a flash of light.

William and Jeremy just stood there for a while, before the older boy headed to the door.

"Well, I better get Kiwi fed. Don't want to make Aelita angry," William reported as he started to leave the room. "Good night, Jeremy. Try to get some sleep this time around, huh?"

"Mmm," Jeremy muttered, lost in thought, to the raven-haired boy as the door shut behind him. For once, he actually did feel like going to sleep on time, but first, before he did that, he would have to forge yet another letter from his parents to which he could relay to Mr. Delmas.

* * *

"So, did he buy it?" Aelita asked as she and Jeremy sat and listened to the lecture that was being given by their math teacher. Aelita wasn't strictly paying attention to the lecture, however, preferring rather to doodle on her paper (something she had taken for granted during her last stay) and gather some information from Jeremy. Said boy glanced over to his friend, smirking slightly at Aelita's haphazard rendition of a battle on Lyoko.

"Yeah, he did, but not a day too soon, I might add. If you'd been gone any longer, it probably would have been grounds for your enrollment here to be discontinued." Jeremy replied, then after seeing the somewhat worried look on Aelita's face added. "Just for the rest of the year at least."

"Well, at least it worked, right?" Aelita said, resuming her doodling a bit more dispirited than before, a hand pressed against the side of her face. Jeremy looked over curiously at the pinkette, wondering what the matter was.

"Is something wrong, Aelita?" The concerned boy asked, worried for his friend. Aelita paused again in her doodling to look back up at him before sighing slightly.

"It's just...I feel like I'm putting you all in danger, and you're practically putting your lives on hold just to help me." Aelita replied, eyes downcast once more. Jeremy pursed his lips knowingly. Usually it was he who was generally in the need of a pep talk, but occasionally Aelita would be in need of one as well, albeit an encouraging one and not a stop-feeling-sorry-for-yourself pep talk. Jeremy placed a hand lightly on hers, blushing slightly at the contact, even if it was just her specter he was touching.

"Hey," Jeremy called he attention back to him. "You're our friend, Aelita, and that's what friend's do: help each other. Even if that means putting our lives on hold for a while. Will get through this, don't you worry."

A flicker of liveliness came back into Aelita's eyes - or rather her spectre's eyes. Jeremy was still amazed with how well Aelita had managed to replicate her appearance, and even on occasion forgot that Aelita was still on Lyoko.

"Wow, a pep talk coming from you? That's not something you hear everyday," Aelita replied with a hint of a smirk on her face. "I thought you were the one supposed to always be on the receiving end."

"Well, you looked like you could use a bit of encouragement," Jeremy chuckled slightly, before a thought crossed his mind. Aelita gave him a small smile in return before opening her mouth to speak once more.

"Thanks, Jeremy. I-"

"Miss Stones," The teacher's voice interrupted, as Jeremy and Aelita's attention was drawn back to the classroom and away from their secret problems. "I understand that the last couple of months have been hard on you, but, please, try in make an attempt at paying attention."

"Yes, ma'am," Aelita replied rather meekly, somewhat nervous at having the class' attention directed towards her.

"Good," Mrs. Meyer nodded. "Now will you please tell us what a tesselation is?"

Aelita gave a slight, reassured smile before matter-of-factually stating the answer.

"Tessellations are plane-filling arrangements composed of regular polytopes, however the breaking up of self-intersecting polytopes into simple polytopes may also be referred to as tessellations."

This time Aelita paid no heed to the stares of her classmates as she looked at her teacher expectantly.

"Um, uh, yes, that is correct, Aelita." Mrs. Meyer confirmed after a moment. "Well done."

"Thank you, ma'am," Aelita replied cordially as Jeremy shot her a smirk as Mrs. Meyer began the conclusion to her lecture.

"What?" Aelita asked, putting a look of innocence on her specter's face.

"You enjoyed that, didn't you?" Jeremy grinned at the pinkette.

"I was just answering the question," Aelita replied, keeping up her act of innocence for a while longer before finally conceding. "OK, maybe I enjoyed it a _little_."

Jeremy just gave out a slight chuckle at the girl, as Mrs. Meyer finished her lecture and the bell rang.

* * *

Aelita walked carefully out of the locker room, wary of moving quickly too soon. She had been forced to find a secluded place within the locker room for her specter to alter its appearance to her physical education outfit, but that had been easy enough. Now she was just making sure the specter was able to maintain its appearance without glitching out too much.

'So good, so far,' Aelita thought to herself cautiously as she made her way to where Jeremy was standing, looking none too thrilled to be anywhere near their rather bombastic and rather athletically obsessed gym teacher.

"What is this!? Has Jeremy Belpois finally honored us with his presence!? Finally decided to get some muscle on those scrawny sticks you call arms, I see!" Jim was going on sarcastically as Aelita approached the group, being the last one to arrive.

"Ah! Good to see you back, Miss Stones!" Jim trumpeted more cordially when he saw Aelita, completely forgetting about Jeremy for the moment. "Now, where were we!? Ah, yes - javelin throwing! Now javelin throwing is a sport of precision! Accuracy! And strength! Why to throw a javelin far, you must have all of these skills!"

"You don't look too happy," Aelita commented as she let Jim's boisterous speech fade into the background, as difficult as that was to do even as a specter. Jeremy glanced over at Aelita ruefully.

"Well, you know anything athletic really isn't my thing, but with all the P.E. classes I've been skipping or missing lately, I had to come today or else I might risk getting in trouble with the principal."

"Stones!" Jeremy and Aelita jerked their heads around to look at their gym teacher. Aelita had been so startled by the sudden outburst that her spectral form had flickered slightly. Fortunately no one had seemed to notice.

"Now I know you've been gone a while, but how about getting back into the groove of things with a good, old javelin throw, huh!?" Jim continued enthusiastically. Aelita noticed the somewhat nervous glances her classmates were throwing her. Normally, if she had actually been on Earth, then she would have backed down and attempted to avoid whatever activity Jim was trying to introduce her to, if only for the well-being of her classmates. Now, however, she knew that she could most certainly handle a javelin throw - or rather her specter could handle it.

"OK, Jim," Aelita volunteered, wearing a confident smile as the boisterous gym teacher handed her a javelin with a grin and a pat on the back.

"That's it, Aelita! Initiative!" Jim thundered enthusiastically. "Now hold it in your hand like so! Wind your arm back! Take aim! And let 'er fly!"

Aelita did exactly as her gym teacher had instructed, holding the javelin parallel to her body and aiming at a rather ragged target a few dozen yards away. Taking an unnecessary breath, almost instinctively, Aelita leaned forwards as she threw the javelin toward the lone target. The javelin soared through the air. And continued to soar through the air. And soared well over the target. And then soared over the a wall before finally impacting with what sounded like a window. An angry and surprised yell of shock confirmed that the javelin had flown into Kadic's storage shed.

Aelita stood stock still, frozen in shock, her arms still in front of her and her body still leaning from the throw. She obviously hadn't anticipated how strong her specter was going to be. Meanwhile, everyone else was in a similar state of shock, with Jim gazing off after the javelin with his mouth wide open.

The stunned silence did not last for long, however, as Jim quickly changed his silent shock into an immensely loud and boisterous shout of glee.

"Haha! That's how you do it, Aelita! I'm gonna put you on the school team! How about that, huh?! Haha, we'll go far, you and me! We'll crush the regionals! The nationals! The internationals! The INTERPLANETARIES! THE INTERGALACTICS! HAHA!"

'Oh, dear,' was all Aelita could think as Jim continued to boast on and on about the oncoming, inevitable victories to come. Aelita shared a worried with Jeremy, who simply shrugged helplessly at her plight.

* * *

"Ugh, this is a disaster!" Aelita moaned, slumping her head into her arms. "How could I have forgotten how strong specters are? Ugh, I'm such an idiot!"

"Huh, well I'm pretty sure that's far from the truth," William's voice came as he walked over to where the two Einsteins were eating supper. "What happened?"

"You mean you haven't heard?" Jeremy asked, looking up at his friend. "I would have thought for sure Jim would have told the whole school by now. Or at least shouted it out loud enough for everyone to here."

"Wait, Jim?" William exclaimed, a flash of recognition showing in his eyes followed by a metaphorical light bulb. "Whoa...wait a second! Are you telling me _Aelita's_ the champion javelin thrower Jim's been regaling everyone about?" William looked over to Aelita for confirmation. The pinkette only buried her head in her arms further in embarrassment.

"What happened?" William asked, directing the question to Jeremy this time.

"Well," Jeremy shrugged. "Short story is Jim asked Aelita to throw a javelin, and she forgot how strong specters were and ended up throwing the javelin a few hundred feet."

"Wow," William whistled. "No wonder Jim's so excited."

"Yeah and it's a disaster!" Aelita exclaimed, throwing her hands up in the air. "And now I've got to find a way to convince Jim that I just can't be a part of any team. Jeremy, are you sure we can't just do a return to the past?"

"Aelita, you know as well as I do that a return to the past will just make Xana stronger," Jeremy replied, pausing from taking what would appear to be his first bite. "I mean, if the situation gets bad enough then we'll have to, but in the meantime you might as well try to deal with it. After all, who knows how many times something like this is going to happen."

"I guess you're right," Aelita sighed resignedly. "I just wish Jim wasn't shouting it out all over the place! It's not going to make my job any easier."

"Eh, well you win some, you lose some, right?" William shrugged with a chuckle. Aelita lips quirked into a brief smile before she suddenly frowned. Something wasn't right. Her friends noticed her rapid change of mood.

"What is it, Aelita?" William asked, concerned for the pinkette. "Something I said?"

"No, no, it's...," Aelita trailed off, waving William's question away, trying to determine the source of the strange pulsating thrums that rang through her mind. Her eyes suddenly shot open wide as she realized what she was hearing.

"Pulsations!" She exclaimed suddenly, startling her two friends and earning confused glances from both of them. "Xana's launched an attack! I can hear the pulsations."

"Wait, how can you hear the pulsations?" William asked, seemingly forgetting the fact that the Aelita he was looking at was just a specter. That or he just forgot how the whole specter thing worked.

"I'm still on Lyoko, remember?" Aelita reminded William, shaking her head emphatically. "This is just a spectral projection of myself, but since I'm still on Lyoko I can still hear Xana's pulsations. It's why I went for this plan. I could be both at school experiencing your world while also keeping an eye on Xana in mine."

"Alright, then," Jeremy announced, getting up from his seat at the table, William and Aelita quickly following in suit. "We'd better get to the factory before Xana can try anything. Aelita, you'd better find a place to shut down the specter and start heading towards the tower."

"No, Jeremy, I think I'll come with you at least until the factory just to make sure you guys are safe." Aelita rejected as she shook her head. "Besides, knowing Xana I'm probably not going to be able to make it past his monsters without some help, and that means you two need to get to the factory safe and sound."

"Alright then," William agreed, starting towards the door with the others in tow. "Sounds like a plan. Let's get going, then."

The three quickly made their way out of the cafeteria and into the forest. Entering the sewers, the group hurried through the subterranean tunnels with Aelita using her specter's speed to keep up with Jeremy and William as her scooter was still on the side of the sewers near the factory.

They encountered no resistance, however, as they reached the end of the tunnel and headed up towards the bridge that led to the factory.

"Huh, maybe we've got the jump on Xana for once," William panted as he ran across the bridge with Jeremy just behind him and Aelita easily keeping pace with the older boy. William and Jeremy hastily swung themselves down to ground floor of the factory, while Aelita simply leaped off the upper ledge and landed with the sound of cracking concrete on the floor below. She got to her feet with a slight smile as she walked over towards the elevator.

"Y'know, I'm beginning to think you're starting to enjoy this whole thing a bit too much," Jeremy commented as he and William entered the elevator. Aelita just shot him a smirk as she hit the descent mechanism causing the elevator to jerk down and begin heading towards the computer lab.

Jeremy entered the code into the keypad as the elevator ground to a halt. The vault-like doors opened with a hiss, and the three exited the elevator and jerked to a halt in surprise. Sitting in what the group usually considered Jeremy's seat was a man with grey hair in a white lab coat.

"Ah, that Xana," Came the man's voice, deep and calm. "Locks the door but leaves the window wide open."

Aelita, William, and Jeremy walked over to stand just behind and to the side of the man, who they could now see wore a pair of thick glasses. Jeremy looked over the man's shoulder where he saw on the monitor that _five_ towers were in fact activated, and it appeared that the man was deactivating the towers one by one. Still, Jeremy had to ask.

"What are you doing?"

"Ah, there you are. I've been expecting you. To answer your question, I'm deactivating the towers, of course." The man replied as if the answer should be obvious. Surprise flitted across all of the Lyoko Wanderer's faces. Aelita stepped forward to speak up, also glancing at the monitor screen to see if she could spot her activated tower. To her surprise, the screen did not display the tower she had activated.

"You can do that? Without going to Lyoko" Aelita asked the mysterious man, who turned towards her as he apparently deactivated the last tower.

"Why, of course I can," he replied. Aelita shared a glance with Jeremy at this, as William stepped closer to the man and voiced his own question.

"Well, would you mind telling us who you are then?"

"What? Haven't you understood yet?" The man asked, raising an eyebrow once more. "I'm Franz Hopper."

Emotion suddenly flooded through Aelita as she took a step back, nearly making her lose control of her specter. She composed herself, however, and looked back up at the man who claimed he was Franz Hopper. If that was true then...

"T-then you're the one who made...who made..."

"The quantum supercomputer and Lyoko, yes," Franz Hopper replied, typing in a few more commands into the supercomputer seemingly as an afterthought.

Aelita looked him intently in the eyes. A question burned in her mind, and she knew he would have the answer.

"What about me?"

"Eh? Oh, I created you to be the guardian of Lyoko. But I never thought I would see you one day in flesh and blood." Franz Hopper replied, glancing at Aelita once more. Aelita ducked her head under his gaze, emotions flooding her once more.

"So does that mean that you can cure Aelita of whatever virus she has?" William asked of Franz Hopper, who turned to look at the boy.

"Yes, indeed I can," Franz Hopper replied before inspecting William more critically. "However, I am somewhat puzzled by your presence here. Aelita is required for you to deactivate the towers, and Jeremy, as I understand it, operates my supercalculator while she does so. But you, why are you here?"

"Oh, uh, I'm just Aelita's escort on Lyoko," William replied nonchalantly. "Y'know, to make sure Xana doesn't capture her or anything."

"You mean you've used the scanners to transport a real person to Lyoko?" Franz Hopper exclaimed, turning his gaze critically towards Jeremy, who shifted slightly under the attention, not quite sure of what Franz Hopper was getting at.

"Um, yes, of course," Jeremy replied somewhat hesitantly. "How else was I supposed to get William to Lyoko?"

"It's a very dangerous procedure," Franz Hopper reprimanded, turning back to the supercomputer's interface. "With serious side-effects."

"Such as?" William asked, looking rather understandably concerned. Franz Hopper turned around once more to give him a solemn, serious look.

"Cellular degeneration," he answered swiftly. At the expression that crossed William's face, he added, "However, perhaps I have arrived just in time to prevent this. I'll have to scan you to be sure."

"What about me?" Aelita asked, thinking about the many materializations and virtualizations she had gone through. Franz Hopper gave her an unconcerned look.

"You should be fine," he assured the girl. "You originated from digital particles, meaning that your material self is recreated every time you are materialized, similar to how a virtual avatar is created by anyone who uses the scanners. If anything, it would be your virtual self that would suffer degradation, but I find that to be quite unlikely."

"OK, then," Aelita replied, still somewhat uncertain. "Should I be scanned in a tower, then?"

"My dear, if all goes according to plan then you won't have to worry about the state of your virtual form for long," Franz Hopper informed her reassuringly. As he patted her on the shoulder gently, Aelita detected small fluctuations in her spectral form. Turning her gaze down to her shoulder, she noticed that it had pixelized slightly. She gazed back up curiously at Franz Hopper, but he had already turned back around in his seat and had begun issuing instructions to William.

"Alright, my boy, you should head down to the scanner room so I can get you checked out." He was saying before turning to Jeremy. "As for you...perhaps you should stay out of the way for now."

"W-what?" Jeremy stammered as William walked towards the elevator, glancing uncertainly at Jeremy as he did so. "Are you saying that this is all my fault? We're all in this together!"

"Perhaps so," Franz Hopper mused. "But it was you who decided to play sorcerer's apprentice, and it was you who may have very well placed your friend's life at risk."

Aelita could not stand seeing Jeremy looking so dejected and discouraged. She knew that he genuinely cared for the well-being of William and herself. The girl couldn't just let him sit there and take it.

"Franz, if it wasn't for Jeremy, I wouldn't be here right now," Aelita told the man, placing a hand on his as she said so. Jeremy glanced up at her, a hint of thankfulness in his eyes. Aelita wasn't focused on him, however, as she glanced down at where her hand was touching Franz Hopper's hand. Or who she had thought was her creator, for both her hand and Franz Hopper's were flickering slightly. She quickly drew her hand away, trying not to seem too suspicious in doing so. If the man noticed, however, he did not so appear to show it.

"You'd better get going," Franz Hopper instructed William, who nodded and pressed the descent button to head down to the scanner room below. The man then turned to face Jeremy. "And I think you should be getting along as well. I'll inform you of your friend's condition but for now you are not needed."

Jeremy turned to look pleadingly at Aelita, but the pinkette barely noticed, for she was too focused on something else. If her suspicions were correct, then she should be hearing the pulsations of an activated tower. Instead, she heard nothing. There were no pulsations on Lyoko.

Aelita suddenly froze. There may be no more activated towers on Lyoko, but what about somewhere else? After all, Xana had certainly been present in Carthage, and Aelita doubted if she would be able to sense pulsations coming from the mysterious sphere-like world.

"Jeremy, wait!" Aelita cried out as she saw Jeremy turn to leave, discouraged by Aelita's seeming lack of concern. "It's not Franz Hopper! It's a specter!"

"What!?" Jeremy exclaimed in surprise, staring at Aelita like she had gone crazy. Aelita did not stand around to explain, however, and launched herself at the person she had thought was something akin to her father. Sure enough, as soon as she made contact with him both of their forms began to flicker and pixelize.

The two specters flew across the room at the force of Aelita's tackle before impacting against the wall of the computer lab.

"Jeremy! Get to the interface and tell William what's going on!" Aelita shouted to Jeremy as she grappled with the now very irate specter in front of her. "Have him meet me at Tower One. I'll hold off Xana's specter until then!"

With that, Aelita shoved Franz Hopper's imposter into the elevator shaft along with herself.

* * *

William stepped out of the elevator with a sigh. This was not how he had expected all of this to turn out. He wasn't quite sure what 'cellular degeneration' was, but judging by the expressions that had shown on Jeremy and Aelita's faces, William figured that it was not a good thing. Besides, it just had a bad ring to it. And at present, William was unsure of whether to be angry with Jeremy or feel sorry for him. After all, Jeremy had surely not meant for any of this to happen.

A loud, metallic thud on the elevator roof behind him tore him from his thoughts. Whirling around with a brief exclamation of shock, William tilted his head in order to better see the elevator's ceiling. He was surprised to find that there was, in fact, quite a sizable dent in it that certainly had not been there before.

"Hey, Franz," William called out, knowing that the scanner room was hooked up to the comm system. "What's going on? Something just made a big dent in the lift's ceiling."

"William!" A voice came through the comm system. William was surprised to find that the voice was that of Jeremy and not Franz Hopper. "It's me, Jeremy."

"Jeremy?" William asked, even as he heard another series of clangs and thuds sound throughout the elevator shaft. "Where's Franz Hopper, and what just put a dent in the elevator?"

"Oh, that?" Jeremy's voice came again, William could swear he could hear the sound of electricity crackling vaguely throughout the shaft behind him. "That was Aelita and our guest falling down the elevator shaft. It's not really Franz Hopper. It's a polymorphic clone mad by Xana."

"How did you-" William began to ask before being interrupted by Jeremy.

"I didn't, Aelita did," Jeremy informed the older boy hastily. "Anyways, you need to get to Lyoko fast. I'm going to materialize you next to the tower Aelita's in right now along with the overbike and overwing. You need to get to the edge of the sector as soon as possible. I've managed to pinpoint the tower's location - and it's in Carthage."

"Alright, Jeremy," William replied, running over to one of the scanners and stepping inside of it without hesitation. Jeremy's voice came through the comm once more.

"Oh, and William? I'm going to run a scan of you...just in case."

"Don't worry, Einstein," William smirked as the scanner closed around him. "I'm sure it's just some lie made up by Xana to mess up our group, but if it makes you feel better then go ahead."

"Alright then, transfer William," Jeremy intoned as air began to whip past William's face. "Scanner William! Virtualization!"

William's vision suddenly became filled with light, and the next thing he knew, he was hovering loosely above the ground of Lyoko. Having been completely virtualized, William landed gracefully as he turned towards the tower Aelita had activated. The tower was glowing a rather soft, pinkish color.

"Figures," William said to himself before calling up to Jeremy. "Alright, Jeremy, I'm here."

"Okay, then, I'm sending the overbike and overwing," Jeremy's voice came, accompanied by the signature clacking of his keyboard. "I've also informed Aelita to wrap things up with 'Franz Hopper'."

The tower's aura faded from that of pink to blue as William got on the overbike, Zweihänder strapped haphazardly to his back. Soon after, Aelita emerged from the tower, not hesitating in leaping on to the overwing and gunning the acceleration.

"Come on, William! We don't have much time!" The pinkette called out to him, as she zoomed of into the distance, and William gunned the acceleration on his own vehicle. As he finally managed to get the overbike level with Aelita's overwing, William glanced over at Aelita to see her eyes narrowed in determination and her face set in something akin to a scowl.

"So Franz Hopper was an imposter, huh?" William asked the girl, still not quite clear on the situation, having been in the scanner room during the whole incident.

"It wasn't Franz Hopper," she growled, clearly angered by Xana's ploy. "But it was an imposter, and it won't be long before it gets it hands on Jeremy."

William just nodded in solidarity as he gunned his vehicle along with Aelita. The two quickly arrived at the edge of the Northern Forest. Skidding to a halt, William jumped off the overbike, as Aelita did likewise from the overwing.

"Alright, we're here, Jeremy," Aelita called urgently. "Enter the code."

"Will do," Jeremy replied from above. "I'm entering the code: Scipio. Your ride should be there soon."

"I see it," Aelita pointed out, gesturing to William to follow her as she approached the pickup point.

The two Lyoko Wanderers were quickly engulfed by the transport sphere and spirited away to the Lyoko's parallel virtual world: Carthage. An instant later, they emerged from the transport into the mechanical virtual world. Aelita and William quickly ran over to where a corridor was opening in the core of Carthage.

"Alright guys, you have less than three minutes to find the switch," Jeremy's voice came as the two sprinted down the passageway. "Once, you've done that, the tower will be in the labyrinth section of Carthage."

"Alright Jeremy," Aelita panted out as she and William entered a large room filled with columns of various heights. William suddenly pointed to a small extrusion on the far wall.

"Look! There's the switch!"

Aelita and William began to make there way over to the switch, leaping from column to column, when a series of dull roars met their ears.

"Creepers!" William snarled, turning around and drawing Zweihänder before jerking his head at Aelita. "You keep going. Get to the switch! I'll take care of the monsters."

Aelita hesitated only to nod in confirmation, as she took off towards the switch, and William turned back to face the creepers, raising Zweihänder in the air as energy crept up the blade.

"Alright you creepers, come and get some!"

* * *

Jeremy leaned back and let out a breath of relief, as he saw the Carthage timer disappear. Aelita had made it to the switch, and so far William had yet to lose any life-points. So far things were going smoothly.

"You better catch up with Aelita, William," Jeremy instructed, leaning over to better view the monitor. "The room's beginning to reconfigure itself."

"Will do, Jeremy," William's voice came, as Jeremy watched the symbol that represented William begin to move in Aelita's direction.

"So far, so good," Jeremy muttered to himself. His short burst of confidence, however, was cut off by the sound of static and electricity. Spinning around in his chair, Jeremy was given no time to react as Xana's specter, now in its natural state, surged towards him and forced its way into Jeremy's mouth and towards his lungs.

Jeremy fell to the floor gasping - or rather trying to. He clutched at his throat and chest, as he struggled to breath. As Jeremy felt the specter fill his lungs, his chest began to burn from lack of oxygen and the presence of the electrical form of the specter. He vaguely heard Aelita's voice call out to him from the supercomputer but could not even think of replying before darkness filled his mind.

* * *

"Jeremy? Jeremy, can you hear me!?" Aelita shouted out as she dodged a laser bolt fired from a strange manta-like creature that had emerged from the blue, code-imbued barrier which encompassed Carthage.

William blocked another laser bolt with Zweihänder but was unable to block the second shot which hit him on his shoulder. He grunted at the impact, vaguely wondering how many life-points he had left.

He continued to swing Zweihänder back and forth as he blocked and deflected laser bolts. Eventually he ended up back to back with Aelita, who threw him a concerned look over her shoulder.

"William, I think the specter's gotten to Jeremy!" Aelita fretted even as she erected a temporary barrier to block a flurry of laser blasts. William glanced at the virtual elf before releasing a wave of energy from Zweihänder, finally striking down one of the mantas.

"Alright, no time to lose, then," William exclaimed as he turned to face the virtual girl. "You're going to have to jump to get to the tower without our vehicles."

"Okay," Aelita nodded in determination. "You wanna give me a hand doing that?"

"Not a hand," William smirked as he deflected yet another red bolt of energy. "A sword."

With that William held his sword with the hilt in one hand and the dull edge of the blade in the other. Aelita quickly realized what he meant and ran towards him before leaping onto the sword. Using her momentum to crouch horizontally onto the massive blade, Aelita leaped towards the tower as William pushed Zweihänder with all his might, adding to her jump.

As she somersaulted through the air, Aelita could just catch a glimpse of William devirtualizing, as he was struck by a volley of energy bolts, before diving through the wall of the activated tower.

* * *

"You think he'll be okay?" Aelita asked as she and William gently carried Jeremy to his dorm-room. He had passed out again once the trio had reached the end of the sewers. Apparently the specter had been rougher on Jeremy's lungs than the boy had admitted. Still, Aelita was sure that he would be alright with some rest, and, to further be the bearer of good news, Aelita had looked over Jeremy's scans of William and determined that he was in no danger of cellular degeneration. Needless to say, William was relieved.

Once in the dormitory, William opened the door to Jeremy's room, as Aelita carried Jeremy into his dorm with ease, being a specter once more.

"I still can't get over how strong you are," William told the girl as she set Jeremy gently down on his bed. "Speaking of which, have you found a way to convince Jim not to recruit you?"

"Um, I'm working on that," Aelita sighed as she pulled off Jeremy's sneakers and placed a blanket over him. "I'll have something by tomorrow. Maybe I'll just tell Jim that the javelin was lighter than the others or something."

"Or something," William shrugged as he started to head towards the door. Getting up to do the same, Aelita paused slightly before giving Jeremy a small kiss goodnight on his forehead. Standing up, she saw William leaning on the door frame smirking.

"What?" She asked belligerently. If she had been human, a blush would have been creeping up her face for sure.

"Nothing," William chuckled as he pushed off the door frame and headed towards his room. Aelita hastily followed in suit, but not before throwing one last glance back at her sleeping friend.

'At least he'll get a good night's sleep,' Aelita thought to herself as she made her way to her dorm.

Opening the door to her room, Aelita quickly altered her appearance to her night clothes. Getting into bed, Aelita placed her specter into a standby mode as she was suddenly thrust back into her activated tower on Lyoko.

"Whoa," Aelita breathed, placing a hand to her head. It was going to take a little while for her to get used to that. Not wanting to leave the tower in case Xana attempted to take it over, Aelita decided to continue trying to reconstruct the superscan program. If she could make some progress on it, then that would make for a nice gift to Jeremy. And speaking of gifts, Aelita remembered that Jeremy's birthday was in a few days. As she continued to work on the program in front of her, Aelita began to ponder over ideas for celebrating her friend's birthday.

_The samurai sliced another notch into the side of the tunnel he was currently walking through. He had no idea how long he had been in the tunnels. All he knew was that it had been a long time since he had seen the sun, and, although light somehow managed to barely filter into the cave system, the warrior found himself longing for the brilliant, warm glare of the sun. Suddenly as he turned a corner his eyes were blinded by an incredibly intense white light. As his eyes adjusted to the brilliant glare, he caught sight of its source - a small opening that lead to the surface. "At last," he muttered to himself, triggering his supersprint as he made his way to the opening. Peering cautiously out of the tunnel's mouth, the samurai was surprised to find that he could not recognize any of the surrounding plateau. That meant he was deep into the Tornado Peaks. Fortunately he seemed to have emerged from the tunnel during a time of relative calm. That calm was not going to last however. The samurai could already see two sandstorms heading his way. He was about to retreat back into the cave system to wait out the storm when something caught his eye. In the distance, dominating the landscape with its presence, was a tower. Unlike all the other towers he had encountered before, this tower did not glow with a soothing blue aura. Instead, cascading off of it was a menacing red mist._

_"Yeeeoouch!" The blond-haired boy cried as he was blasted off the side of Waterfall Peak. He had been trying to take down this four-legged monstrosity ever since he had emerged from the subterranean tower he had taken shelter in following his first encounter with the beast and the following pulsations. Unfortunately, the feline was rapidly running out of laser arrows and had yet to even be able to scratch his opponent. The tarantula screeched in frustration as the hybrid continued to dodge its laser blasts. "Easy for you too say!" The boy called out, inventing a meaning for the menacing roar. 'Gotta strike it on its eye,' he thought to himself, as he glanced again at the small symbol on the tarantula's head. As the tarantula began to clumsily make its way down the icy mountain, the feline saw a chance to do just. Cocking one of his wrists, he took aim at the ice path below the monster's legs. "Okay, only have - what? - three arrows left? Gotta make 'em count," he breathed as he fired off two of his arrows. The metallic projectiles impacted the ice beneath the tarantula, causing it to crack and break. The monster came tumbling down the mountainside towards the feline, symbol now exposed to the blond. Quickly the hybrid took aim and fired. The arrow hit true to its mark. The feline covered his head with his paws as the tarantula exploded just before landing on him. Uncovering his head and peeking around cautiously, the feline let out relieved sigh before collapsing onto the ground. "Close one," he declared, victoriously, but wearily, raising a paw in the air._

_ACCESS DENIED. The geisha gazed across the strange symbols once again. Access denied. Every time she looked at the symbols it was as if they spoke the words out loud. 'Speaking symbols,' she thought to herself. 'Could this get any stranger?' As she gazed at the series of symbols, she wondered if she could make other speaking markings by rearranging them. She touch the strange, transparent crystal sheet once more in an attempt to change what it said. It was to no avail, however, as the arrangement of the symbols remained the same. 'Very well,' she thought, face creasing in determination. 'What cannot be done with the hand must be done with the mind.' She then began to take the symbols and rearrange them in her mind. She could not, however, make anything meaningful out of them. Her lips curled in frustration. Perhaps if she instead tried to make new arrangements out of only a few of the symbols. She began with the symbols by themselves. 'A' and 'I' seemed to have meanings by themselves. They were the only ones to be so, however. And so with that, the geisha began the tedious process of combining the symbols in front of her into every arrangement she could think of, as she searched for ones which 'spoke' out to her as the original arrangement did._

**Post Story Author's Note: So not my strongest chapter in my opinion (even if it is the longest so far), but that's just my opinion. I'd like to hear yours. So please continue giving your reviews, thoughts, critiques, suggestions, whatever. Just keep the input coming. Hope you enjoyed the story, and don't worry - our Lyoko Wanderers will be meeting a familiar (or would it be unfamiliar?) face soon. Until next time, readers!**


	9. Chapter 9

**Author's Note: Once again, thanks for all the reviews! They really help motivate me in getting these chapters out and written. And since there are no questions to be answered up here in the author's note, all that's left is to read the chapter and hopefully enjoy.  
**

**Now on with the story...**

_The samurai raced through the desert, staying just ahead of the sandstorm that followed him. He would have been well ahead of the sandstorm by now if it had not been for his encounter with an iron sphere. Fortunately, the monster had not been able to strike him with its deadly crimson energy wave, however the same could not be said for one of his clones. The other was racing beside him at present as the warrior had decided to keep him just in case he encountered another monster. This now seemed a wise decision as in front of him a krab emerged from behind a large outcropping of rocks. Noticing the boy sprinting towards it, the krab began to charge its eyes with energy. "Go," the samurai ordered simply to his double, who merely nodded before drawing his sword and rushing ahead of the samurai. The krab let out a flurry of energy bolts, all of which were deflected by the samurai and his clone. Having failed to hit either of its targets, the krab was swift to have one of its front legs severed by the samurai's clone. Stumbling to the ground and revealing the symbol on its shell, the monster met a swift end as the warrior leaped into the air and slammed his sword into the krab. "Impact!" He shouted, before leaping off the monster as it exploded. The victory was short-lived, however, as the krab had delayed the samurai just long enough for the storm to catch up to him. The samurai darted for cover even as his clone, being much weaker than him, was obliterated by the oncoming sandstorm._

_The cat-boy hybrid leaped here and there with grunts of exertion as he attempted to dodge the energy blasts of a tarantula. He had come back to the Slippery Slopes for the many ice tunnels that weaved in and out of the frozen hillside. Needless to say, he had not expected a tarantula to be waiting for him. Catching him by surprise, the monster had quickly made him regret not paying attention to his surroundings with a laser blast to the chest. Fortunately, that had been the only injury the feline had incurred so far. Now, however, he was struggling to avoid the constant barrage of laser fire, while returning some arrows in turn, as he raced for his tower. To the boy's relief, the tower soon came into view along with a slight twinge of nostalgia despite himself. It had been here, after all, where he had first emerged into this icy wasteland he now called home. A laser impacting the ground behind him quickly shook him from his thoughts and he focused renewed effort on reaching the tower. Just as he reached the tower, however, one of the tarantula's laser bolts collided with his back, sending him sprawling through the side of the massive structure. Once inside the tower, the hybrid's momentum carried him to the side of the platform, arms waving, before sending him falling into the dark void below._

_The geisha walked slowly away from the Peaks of Solitude. They were aptly named, she thought to herself. For she had remained in them - and more specifically in the Tower of Wisdom - for nearly three periods. During that time she had mapped out the surrounding mountain range, honed her telekinesis to a level where she was able to levitate herself, and finally reached the upper platform of the tower. Unfortunately, reaching the platform had opened up many more questions than it had closed. Despite her rearranging of the mysterious symbols she had encountered, the geisha had only managed to create a relatively small number of speaking words. She knew there must be more symbols, however, as there were many more words that could be spoken by the mouth. 'Language,' she mused to herself as she continued her path towards the large plateau which lay before her. 'Language put into solid form that can endure forever.' She had to admit, the idea appealed to her. She had already made a cartouche in each of the mountain ranges she had passed through. During her time studying the solid words, though, she had realized that she had not just been making the cartouches for her own sake, but also in of the hope that there were others, somewhere out there. Others who would one day come across her etchings and maps and know that she had been there, even if they never were to meet. This realization had brought up a feeling of loneliness the geisha had not felt for a long time. But it also gave her hope, hope that even if she was never to meet anyone else, aside from the various monsters that stalked through the misted peaks, that if there was someone else out there, she would be of some small help to them and perhaps help quell whatever loneliness they felt whenever they came across her cartouches. And if she could discover all of the symbols that could be used to give words solid form, well, then that would just make it all the better._

"Jeremy?" Aelita's voice came from behind the young genius. Jeremy turned around in his chair to fully see the girl, who was standing in his doorway expectantly.

"You're going to be late for breakfast if you don't get a move on," Aelita reprimanded, once again worrying over her friend's health. "For a moment I'd thought you'd fallen asleep at your desk again."

"Uh, no," Jeremy mumbled as he wearily rubbed his eyes. Although he had gone to bed earlier than he usually did, it had still been long past midnight. "I was just looking over Franz Hopper's message again."

Shortly after the incident with the polymorphic specter disguised as Franz Hopper, the group had received a message from the real one via Sissi, who had been possessed by one of Franz Hopper's own specter's. Under his influence, Sissi had attempted to relay a message to the group. Unfortunately, Xana had managed to disrupt the message before it could be completed.

"Anything new?" Aelita inquired, walking over to stand beside Jeremy as he turned back around to face his computer monitor.

"Not really," Jeremy reported discouragingly, gesturing hopelessly at the screen. "I mean the first parts are pretty obvious. 'I wish to make contact. My name is Franz Hopper.' It's pretty forward and straight cut, but it's what comes afterwards that's puzzling."

Aelita gave him a questioning look and gestured for him to continue. Jeremy shrugged nonchalantly before doing so.

"Well, he starts to say something about Lyoko - only I think he's using it as an adjective to describe what comes next. But I can't quite make out what it is. It almost looks like it might be 'guardian' but I'm not sure."

"Guardian?" Aelita echoed, her interest peaking. "Could he have been talking about me?"

"I suppose so," Jeremy nodded to himself. "You are the guardian of Lyoko in a way, and if Franz Hopper wanted to help us then he might have the answer to getting rid of that virus Xana inserted into your source code."

"You mean he might have...," Aelita began hesitantly, but Jeremy shook his head to stop her.

"I doubt it. Besides, if he does have the anti-virus or something to help us make one, then I'm sure he'll tell us about it the next time he manages to make contact. Until then, we'll just have to wait."

Aelita nodded resolutely, pursing her lips slightly at the thought of missing the chance to cure herself and end the threat Xana posed once and for all. She shook herself, however, before dragging Jeremy up out his chair.

"Hey, what-" Jeremy began to protest as Aelita grabbed his backpack and began to pull him out of the room.

"I told you: you're going to be late for breakfast. I'm just making sure you actually get there."

Jeremy could only sigh as Aelita used her specter's far superior strength to pull him out of his room.

"You know once you get back to Earth, you won't be able to do this anymore," he pointed out, somewhat grumpily. Aelita gave a smirk in response before replying aloud.

"All the more reason to enjoy it now while I have the chance."

* * *

"And so, although France emerged on the victorious side of World War One, France had born the brunt of the war's human and material loses and was determined to keep Germany weak through a system of alliances and defenses."

Aelita and Jeremy sat quietly taking notes as Mr. Fumet concluded his lecture on World War One. Glancing aside to Jeremy, who was barely managing to stay awake as he jotted his notes down, Aelita wondered once again why humans fought so much and sometimes over the most ridiculous things. Sure, some of the wars made sense where there were people fighting against regimes and dictators who could be compared to Xana in ruthlessness and deception, but for every one of those wars there was at least a dozen or so other wars that could have easily been avoided or were fought over quite insignificant occurrences.

Aelita was jolted from her musings as her pencil fell through her hand. She stared blankly at it for a second, wondering if there was something wrong with her specter. Picking her pencil back up and continuing to finish her notes, Aelita pulled her mind slightly away from the real world in order to better assess what was wrong with her specter. A dull thudding sound in her mind answered her question.

She was about to warn Jeremy about it, believing it to be a pulsation, when she stopped. Her pencil had phased through her hand again just as another thundering boom sounded through her mind. Aelita's eyes widened at the realization of what was going on. Xana had not activated a tower. He was attacking hers!

"Jeremy," she hissed as quietly as she could. The boy quickly gave her his full attention, sensing the urgency in her voice.

"What is it, Aelita?" Jeremy asked, shooting a quick glance around the room to make sure nobody had heard them.

"Xana's attacking the tower! My tower!" Aelita whispered urgently, her exclamation punctuated by her form flickering ever so slightly. Fortunately, the fluctuations were not enough to be noticed by a casual observer, but Jeremy was not a casual observer and so noted it with widened eyes.

"We have to get you out of here before your spectral form starts to seriously glitch up," Jeremy muttered to Aelita, shooting yet another cautious glance around the room. Aelita nodded in confirmation.

"Infirmary?" She asked, to which Jeremy nodded and confirmed.

"Infirmary."

With that, Aelita raised her hand in the air, catching the attention of Mr. Fumet, who was none to pleased at being interrupted so close to the end of his lecture.

"Yes, Miss Stones," he asked, somewhat wearily. It was not the first time either Aelita or Jeremy had interrupted his class with a raised hand.

"Um, Mr. Fumet, I'm not feeling too well," Aelita's voice crackled slightly as she said this. "May I please go to the infirmary?"

Mr. Fumet hesitated for a moment, as if considering denying her request, but the slight static in her voice apparently helped to convey the illusion that she was indeed ill.

"Very well, Miss Stones," Mr. Fumet nodded finally before looking towards Jeremy. "Mister Belpois, will you accompany your classmate to the infirmary?"

"Yes, sir," Jeremy quickly replied as he feigned helping Aelita to her feet and out of the classroom.

Once outside the room, another series of crackling booms rang through Aelita's head as her spectral form suddenly began to pixelate uncontrollably for a few seconds before finally reconfiguring itself.

"Not a moment too soon," Jeremy noted, reaching for his cellphone. "I'll call William. We have to get to the factory to stop Xana from destroying the tower your in like he did with Franz Hopper's."

With that said, the pair headed towards an exit as Jeremy quickly dialed William's cellphone number and raised his phone to his ear.

* * *

William was sitting in Ms. Hertz's science class when his phone rang. He cursed silently under his breath. He had forgotten to set his cellphone to vibrate. Ms. Hertz glanced over towards William in annoyance.

"Mr. Dunbar," she reprimanded irritably. "What are the rules about cellphones in the classroom?"

"All cellphones must be turned off before entering the classroom environment," William replied begrudgingly.

"Well, I'm glad to see that you at least _remember_ that," she scolded with her usual scathing tone, before holding out her hand commandingly. "Now hand it over!"

"But Ms. Hertz...," William began to protest, trying to dig out his cellphone to see if it was Jeremy who was calling.

"No buts, William! Hand it over," Ms. Hertz repeated as she stalked over to William's desk and snatched the phone away from his hand. William tried desperately to catch a glance of who the caller was but the speed at which Ms. Hertz took his phone away made that impossible.

"Great," William muttered to himself. If it was a Xana attack then now not only did he not know about it, but he also wouldn't be able to leave the classroom with Ms. Hertz in the mood she was in now.

"If it was you, Jeremy," William thought out loud quietly. "I hope you and Aelita can handle it."

* * *

"Damn," Jeremy swore loudly, earning him a look from Aelita as he closed his cellphone. "William isn't answering his phone. What could be so important as to keep him from at least answering?"

"W_e ca_n w_orr_y _ab_o_ut_ t_h_a_t_ l_at_e_r_," Aelita's voice crackled as her form once again began to pixelize and distort itself. "_Yo_u _n_e_e_d _to_ g_et t_o t_h_e _fac_to_ry_ _as_ so_o_n a_s_ _pos_s_ib_le!"

"Easy for you to say," Jeremy retorted as he flung himself onto his scooter and rode down the sewer line, Aelita keeping pace beside him despite her specter's constant glitches. "How are you holding up?"

"_I'm_ fi_ne_," Aelita replied, a flash of worry pixelizing itself across her face nonetheless. "It'_s the_ to_we_r th_a_t I_'m_ _wo_rr_ied_ a_bou_t. Je_re_m_y, _w_e can-n'_t le-_ee_-e_t Xa_-na de-s-_str oy th_e tow_er! Wh_o-o kn -_kno_ws wha_t eff_ect t_ha_t c_ou_ld h_av-ve_ on Ly _-o-yo_ko!"

"You're right, but what can we do without William there to take care of whatever's attacking the tower?" Jeremy countered as he haphazardly leaped his scooter down a flight of stairs. Aelita pondered his question for a second before answering resolutely.

"_I'_ll t_ry_ to _buy_ s_o-so_me ti_me,_" Aelita announced, hastily continuing before Jeremy could object. "_No_ ti_me_ fo-_or_ argu_ei-ing, just _get to th_e f_act_or_y. I_'m_ g_oi_ng to _ne_ed a _ve_hi-hi-hi_cle."_

As soon as she had finished saying that, Aelita's spectral form suddenly pixelated entirely before dispersing altogether.

"Aelita!" Jeremy cried despite him knowing she could not hear him now. "Unbelievable," he exclaimed aloud. He knew what the virtual girl was going to try to do: exit the tower and attempt to either get rid of the monsters surrounding it or avoid them until help could arrive. Either way he looked at the situation, Jeremy could not see it ending well. Especially with Aelita charging into the midst of things like this. Honestly, at times like this he wondered if Aelita wasn't partially insane or in possession of a death wish. It would sure explain why she was always running off into the thick of things just when they were at their worst.

Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, Jeremy shoved off the ground once more to accelerate his scooter in order to more quickly reach the factory. And hopefully he would reach it in time to be of some help to Aelita.

* * *

Aelita gasped as her mind was jerked away from the real world, and the tower she was in deactivated her spectral program. Getting shakily to her feet, Aelita was nearly knocked off the upper platform by the force of the twin impacts that struck the tower simultaneously. Quickly glancing at the tower's interface, Aelita could see that the structure did not have that much time before it devirtualized.

"Here goes nothing," she urged herself on, as she stepped off of the upper platform and gently floated down towards the much larger platform below. As soon as her feet touched the metal disk, its rings flickering haltingly with light, Aelita pushed off the floor and sprinted out of the tower, catching the two megatanks outside the structure by surprise.

The surprise was not long to last, however, as the megatanks quickly folded themselves up and thundered towards her. Aelita leaped in between the two massive metal spheres only to realize that she had not been their target. The two megatanks had proceeded to position themselves beside the tower, where they deployed once more to create a fluctuating barrier of energy waves in order to prevent her return to the now deactivated structure.

Aelita did not have long to take in the sight before a series of whirring noises caused her to swivel around. Behind her stood nearly a dozen bloks. With all other pathways blocked, Aelita had no choice but to run towards the Eastern Forest on a path which would eventually lead her to the extreme edge of Lyoko - and the transport sphere that would be eagerly waiting her arrival there to spirit her off to Carthage.

* * *

Jeremy bolted through the doors leading to the computer lab as soon as they slid open. Rushing to the control console, Jeremy quickly placed his headpiece over his ears and began pulling up the various interfaces he would need in order to assess the situation on Lyoko.

As soon as the first few screens popped up, Jeremy could see that the situation was about as dire as he had anticipated. From what he could tell, while Aelita had managed to preserve the tower, two megatanks were guarding the structure, preventing her return. Even worse, Aelita was being pursued by ten bloks, all corralling her in the direction of the Northern Forest.

"Aelita, can you hear me?" Jeremy asked urgently, pulling up the program for the overwing, ready to materialize the craft as soon as possible.

"Jeremy," Aelita's voice came, sounding about as frantic as Jeremy felt. "Thank goodness you've arrived. Just in time, too, by the way. How's that vehicle coming along?"

"Almost got it...," Jeremy muttered as he hastily typed in the commands that would virtualize the vehicle near Aelita. "There, got it! The overwing should be appearing ahead of you to your right."

"Thanks Jeremy," Aelita panted, the symbol representing her moving towards the overwing. "Any other monsters I should be worried about?"

"No, the bloks are all that are behind - wait a second - what the heck!?" Jeremy broke off suddenly as something near the tower caught his attention.

"Jeremy, what is it?" Aelita asked, having now mounted the overwing and banking in a direction away from the Northen Forest.

"I-I don't know," Jeremy muttered, almost to himself. Something had appeared from _within_ Tower One. The symbol denotating it did not match any monster he had ever seen, however, and as if to confirm the fact it was not a monster, shortly after whatever-it-was had emerged from the tower, the two megatanks guarding the structure suddenly devirtualized. "Something just came out of your tower and devirtualized the megatanks!"

"What!? How is that - aaah!" Aelita exclaimed, her cry of shock wrenching Jeremy away from the mysterious arrival just in time to witness the on-screen representation of the overwing being devirtualized by the bloks pursuing Aelita.

"Aelita!" Jeremy cried out in panic, as he frantically began reprogramming a new vehicle. Aelita was still close enough to the Northern Forest for the bloks to freeze her and reposition her to be transported to Carthage.

* * *

"Jeremy, help!" Aelita cried as she pushed herself to her feet and gasped in horror at the bloks that were preparing to immobilize her. "I'm surrounded by them!"

Fortunately, Aelita managed to weave back and forth for a time between the ice beams which shot from the small army of bloks, even managing to catch some of the monsters in the crossfire. She could not, however, capitalize on this as it was virtually impossible for her to use her creativity without instantly being frozen by at least one of the creatures.

Suddenly her foot caught on a small stone that was obtruding from the ground. Stumbling to the moss-covered earth, Aelita could only look up in terror at the blok that was preparing to entrap her in a prison of ice.

"Laser arrow!" A voice suddenly came from out of nowhere, followed by what looked like a small blur impacting the blok preparing to freeze her. The blok spun around at the momentum of the impact before shattering into several smaller pieces. The other bloks, along with Aelita, turned to face the new arrival.

Needless to say, Aelita had to admit that she had not expected her savior to be a giant purple cat.

* * *

"AaAaAaAaAaaaaaah," the hybrid screamed as he fell down into the dark chasm that lay within all the towers that loomed over his glacier-filled home. To his surprise, however, he suddenly found himself floating, almost gliding in fact, through a translucent tunnel of blue energy surrounded by the small glowing panels that were also present in the interiors of the towers.

Just as he was beginning to get used the ride, however, he was suddenly flung upwards with another yell of surprise that lasted until he shot back up into the tower and landed face-first onto the platform. He lay there for a few seconds before finally picking his head up and looking around.

Jumping to his feet, he quickly twisted and turned to gather a complete survey of his body.

"Uh, two arms...two legs...one tail...yep! Everything's here!" He exclaimed, satisfied that his sudden ride had not done any permanent damage. In fact, he felt fully rejuvenated from just being inside a tower once more, and, full of exhilaration from his unexpected ride, the feline cocked his wrists, hearing the familiar clicking of his arrows reloading.

"Alright then, no reason to keep you waiting," he purred enthusiastically to the tarantula outside, whom he now felt ready to take down thanks to the rush he had just experienced.

"Man, I should really do that more often! I've been missin' out!" He commented to himself as he walked towards the wall of the tower, sending a glance down into the dark chasm below. Filled with a new found excitement he had not felt in a long time, the feline leaped out of the tower, arms raised to fire a volley of laser arrows at the tarantula that had so rudely shot him in the back.

Except that standing in front of the tower was not a tarantula but two megatanks, which whirled around to face the feline, seeming almost confused by his presence.

"Yikes!" The feline cried out in surprise, accidentally unleashing a volley of arrows from each hand. Caught off guard as much as the hybrid, the megatanks were struck dead center in their eyes, rolling back away from the feline before ramming into a pair of trees and exploding.

The feline stared at the shattered remains of the megatanks and then at his paws before letting out a whoop of triumph and shooting his arms into the air.

"Woohoo!" The hybrid cried, exhilaration coursing through him. "Once again the amazing, the incredible, the spectacular me has triumphed over incredible odds!"

He would have continued his exceptionally loud and boisterous boasting had not something struck him as out of place. 'Hold on a second,' he thought as he lowered his paws and surveyed the surrounding landscape. 'Did those megatanks just crash into a couple of _trees_?'

He wasn't sure how he knew that the towering green and brown columns before him were trees, but he did know that there was a lot of them, and he had never seen anything like them before. His eyes suddenly bugged out as this new landscape finally processed itself into his mind.

Surrounding him on all sides, seeming to permeate the air itself, was the color green. A color he had only seen when encountering the acidic liquid that was occasionally launched at him from wazps. In addition to this strange new world-dominating color, the feline could not even spot a trace of blue or white. In fact the closest thing to either of those colors that he could see was a few nearby boulders.

"Okay...where'd all the ice go?" He finally gasped aloud, turning around and around to take in the serene beauty of the forest surrounding him. He glanced back at the tower. Did all of them lead to new worlds such as this?

He was unable to further ponder the question as the sound of laser fire reached his ears...along with something that sounded suspiciously like a scream. Not wasting any time, the hybrid shot off on all fours towards the source of the commotion.

'Could it be?' He dared to think. After all, while it was true that he was the only one who lived in the icy plains and peaks that were his home...this was a new world, wasn't it? And if so, could that mean that someone - someone else - lived here? Alone? Like he had for so long?

"Only one way to find out," he panted as he rounded the bend and was confronted with the sight of nearly a dozen bloks, some of them frozen in ice strangely enough, surrounding what struck the boy as a rather pretty pink-haired girl who had her arms raised up in a pitiful attempt to shield herself.

Seeing he had not a moment to lose, the hybrid raised an arm and took aim at the blok that was looming over and preparing to attack the strange, pink-clad girl.

"Laser arrow!" He shouted, as one of the deadly projectiles shot from his wrist and slammed into one of the blok's many eyes. The monster stumbled backwards, whirling around before finally shattering.

The feline lacked the time to gloat about his small victory as the seven unfrozen bloks quickly turned their attention towards him and began to open fire. The hybrid easily dodged the volley of laser blasts, managing to take out three of the bloks in the process with his arrows.

As he had now placed himself in front of the strange girl, the hybrid could not tell how well she was faring. Launching a few more arrows into the nearest pair of bloks, the boy was surprised to hear a voice behind him let out a long, piercing melody. He was about to whirl around and ask the girl, whom he presumed to be the one singing, why she _was_ singing when they were still surrounded by nearly a half dozen bloks. He was stopped in his tracks, however, as the ground disappeared from underneath two of the bloks - the ones that had just broken free of their encasements of ice. Caught off guard by the sudden disappearing act, the hybrid was struck in the chest by one of the remaining bloks.

Flying backwards from the force of the blow, the hybrid landed hard on the ground with a grunt. The mysterious pink-haired girl, whom the boy could now see had peculiarly pointed ears, one of which had a small bauble of some sort hanging from it.

"Are you alright?" The girl asked in a soft tone, with equal parts surprise, confusion, and concern on her face. She placed a hand on his shoulder as if to help him up.

"Y-yeah, I'm fine. It's gonna take a lot more than that to get me down, um...," he trailed off as he realized he did not know the girl's name. Though, if she was like him, she might not have a name at all. The pointy-eared girl seemed to realize the source of his confusion as he propped himself up on his paws.

"Aelita," she said with a gentle smile. "My name is Aelita."

"Well, glad to meet you, Aelita," he replied with a smile of his own before he looked past the girl and let out an exclamation of warning. "Now duck!"

Aelita quickly ducked down as two laser bolts soared past her head. The feline quickly jumped to his feet and returned a salvo of arrows that destroyed the two bloks. Instinctively cocking his wrist, the hybrid was met with a familiar empty click.

"Wow, out of arrows," he muttered to himself. "That was a close one."

He turned towards Aelita to see if she was alright only to find her giving him an expectant look with an eyebrow raised and a hand on her hip.

"What?" He exclaimed, not sure of why she was looking at him like that. The pinkette gave a small smirk.

"Well, I told you my name," she reminded the feline. "Do you want to tell me yours?"

* * *

Aelita stood looking at the strange boy in front of her, waiting expectantly for an answer. The strange purple-clad, cat-like boy with the tall, spiky blond hair looked suddenly uncomfortable, a far cry from the confidence he had displayed before. Aelita was about to repeat her question when she was interrupted by Jeremy.

"Aelita, what's going on down there? I'm picking up a strange signal and it looks like all the bloks have been devirtualized!" Jeremy exclaimed, his disembodied voice causing Aelita's rescuer to shoot into the air, not unlike the cat he resembled.

"Wha-?" The feline shouting, looking around wildly. "Who said that?"

"Don't worry," Aelita reassured the boy, talking her hand off her hip and walking over to the startled cat. "It's just Jeremy. He's a friend of mind."

"Aelita, who are you talking to?" Jeremy's voice came again, prompting Aelita's companion to swivel his head around once more in order to find its source. Aelita suppressed a giggle as she responded to Jeremy.

"That mysterious signal on your screen I'd presume," Aelita called up to Jeremy. "I think he might be like me, an artificial intelligence. He doesn't seem to know his name at any rate."

"Hey, who said anything about me not knowing my own name?" The hybrid protested, but a quick pointed look from Aelita quickly got him to acquiesce. "Okay, so I don't know it, you happy? What's an artificial intelligence anyways? Where am I? Why are your ears all pointy like that? And where's your tail? And who-mMMmMmhhmHmm!"

The boy's voice was muffled by Aelita's hand covering his mouth. Aelita rolled her eyes gently at the protesting look on her new friend's face before turning her attention back to Jeremy.

"Jeremy, I think I'll be having my hands full for a while - or perhaps rather my ears full. Our guest's quite the talker and he has a lot of questions. You might want to head back to school for now. I'll join you as soon as I can, okay?"

Jeremy seemed to hesitate for a few seconds before answering.

"Okay, Aelita," he agreed before quickly adding. "But don't hesitate to call me if you need anything."

"Don't worry, I will Jeremy," Aelita assured her friend with a knowing grin before turning her attention back to the strange cat-like boy who was currently attempting to pry Aelita's hand away from his mouth. "I'll let go but only if you calm down with the questions. Got it?"

The hybrid nodded and mumbled a response in reply before Aelita slowly removed her hand. Seeing, or rather hearing, the blond's silence, Aelita nodded her head gratefully.

"Good," she sighed before continuing. "Now to answer some of your questions..."

* * *

Jeremy sat impatiently at one of tables in the cafeteria, drumming his fingers against its surface, not even bothering to start eating his supper while waiting for William, and hopefully Aelita, to arrive.

"Something wrong Jeremy?" A voice came from in front of him. Glancing up in surprise, Jeremy realized that he had been so deep in thought that he hadn't even noticed when one of the people he had been waiting for had arrived.

"Uh, no, nothing wrong, though it was hard to cover for you for half a day," Jeremy replied as Aelita took a seat beside him. "What took so long anyhow?"

Aelita gave a shrug.

"Well, Odd had a _lot_ of questions. And I mean a lot."

"_Who's Odd?_" Jeremy asked, brow furrowed in confusion, at the same time as William, who had just walked over from the meal line. Aelita and Jeremy both looked up at William expectantly as he sat down on the other side of the table. He gave them a somewhat guilty look, hand rubbing the back of his neck.

"There was a Xana attack today, wasn't there?" He asked, seeming to already know the answer.

"There was indeed," Jeremy replied, annoyance all too apparent in his voice. "And you weren't there."

"Jeremy," Aelita scolded lightly. "I'm sure there was a reason. Right, William?"

"Yeah, a pretty stupid one though," William replied, stabbing at his food in frustration as he explained. "I forgot to switch my cellphone to vibrate and Ms. Hertz took it up before I could see who was calling. I see you guys made it out alright, though."

"Yeah," Aelita began, Jeremy merely nodding begrudgingly in reply. "Though we have Odd to thank for that."

"Alright, that's the second time you've mentioned this 'Odd'. Who is he? I thought I was the only one who was let in on your little secret?" William asked, somewhat annoyed at the thought of Aelita and Jeremy telling someone else about their secret without at least giving him a heads up.

"You _are_ the only one we've told," Aelita replied, earning her a confused look from William. "Odd is...well, we think Odd is another artificial intelligence like me. When I was being attacked on Lyoko he just appeared out of nowhere and saved me. And from what he's told me...I don't think Lyoko and Carthage are the only virtual worlds out there."

This got Jeremy's attention.

"What do you mean?" He asked, more than curious to find out. Aelita gave a slight frown for a second, as if gathering her thoughts, before replying.

"Well," she began slowly. "Odd says he's from a place that's covered in ice and glaciers - not a living thing in sight. From the way he described it, I'd guess it's about the same size as Lyoko. It even has towers, too - ten of them."

"Just like Lyoko," Jeremy muttered out loud. Aelita nodded in confirmation before going on.

"And what's more, he's been there alone for as long as he can remember - exploring his world and fighting monsters the entire time."

"And these monsters, are they Xana's?" William asked from across the table, putting his silverware back down on the table and leaning towards Aelita.

"Yes," Aelita nodded in grim affirmation. "Which means Xana is not just in Lyoko and Carthage but in Odd's virtual reality as well."

The group was silent for some time as they processed all of this new information. Finally, though, Jeremy spoke up once more.

"You never did say how you found out his name. I presume you used a tower."

"Yes," Aelita nodded. "But there was something strange about it. Odd couldn't access the upper platform for some reason, and I had to hack into the tower's subsystems just to find out what his name was."

"Hmm, that is strange," Jeremy agreed before a possibility opened itself up to him. "But maybe he couldn't access the tower because it was on Lyoko. Maybe he can only access the towers on his world."

"Maybe," Aelita said, still sounding somewhat unconvinced. "Either way, he's never been able to get to the second platform in his towers either. Then again, he did admit he hadn't ever really tried to - apart from attempting to scale up the wall. Apparently levitating to the second platform didn't really present itself as a possibility to him."

"Well, that makes two of us, then," William put in as he took a bite out of his meal. "So where is this new friend of yours right now anyways?"

Aelita gave a small smile at the question, eliciting some curiosity from Jeremy.

"Oh, he's still on Lyoko," she replied casually. "He said something about having had enough of ice for a while. I think he's just eager for a new place to explore."

* * *

"Woohoo!" Odd yelled as he swung from tree to tree on the many vines that hung from the branches. Catching a particularly long one, the boy swung up onto one of the higher branches of a tree. Crouching down onto the limb, Odd gazed down upon the forest he was currently searching through. Once again, however, Odd found his thoughts straying back to Aelita. She had answered a lot of his questions before she had had to leave, but there were so many more to still be answered.

He still found it hard to believe that none of this - that none of his home - was actually real. And yet, Aelita had been quite persistent on reinforcing this fact to him. He glanced in the direction of Aelita's tower. Since he was still in the same forest, Aelita's Forest as it was apparently called (he still got a kick out of how embarrassed Aelita was of that fact), he could still see the tower she had activated. He had to admit, he was not used to seeing a pink tower. The only other time he had seen anything other than a blue tower was when he had caught a glimpse of the glowing red one that lay in the center of the Blizzard Plateaus - and even that was only for a few seconds.

Odd shook his head to clear his thoughts. There wasn't any point in him getting all concerned with things just yet - not until Aelita got back, at least. For now, he was more than glad to have somewhere new to explore. And although the forest, or Lyoko as Aelita called it, was rather lacking in the category of ice slides, it certainly made up that deficiency through plenty of trees to climb up and leap around in.

And so, without further ado, Odd began to make his way once more through the towering trunks of the tranquil forests of Lyoko, content in the knowledge that he was not alone, and that he had a new world to experience.

_The samurai moved swiftly and silently across the edge of one of the many smaller platforms of the Floating Plains. 'So far, so good,' he thought to himself as he looked down on the walker he was currently stalking. He had spotted the massive spider-like creature on the edge of the Floating Plains and had been tracking it ever since, waiting for the right time to strike. The samurai knew that if this walker was to meet up with another, then they would undoubtedly be a force to be reckoned with, and that was something the warrior could not afford to have happen. Two blurs of yellow heralded the arrival of his two clones, who signaled to him that there were no other monsters in the area. He nodded curtly before signaling his plan of attack to them. They nodded and swiftly ran off to take their positions. The boy allowed himself a brief smile. Although his clones still could not speak, they could certainly communicate well through the form of sign language he had developed for them. It was crude and simple but it got the job done. Two glints of light from the edges of his vision informed him that his counterparts were in position and ready. Narrowing his eyes in determination, the samurai raised his sword as a signal, and the three warriors charged down towards the unsuspecting walker below._

_ACCESS DENIED. The geisha slammed her fist against the crystalline surface. ACCESS DENIED. Despite herself, the raven-haired girl had decided to inspect the second platform of the Tower of Benevolence. She had named the tower as such because she had yet to encounter any form of hardship so far while exploring the Eye, a massive ringed wall of rock which encircled a lone platform in the center. From a distance it appeared that there had been no way to reach the stone isle or the tower which lay on it, but that had proven to be an illusion as she had found a long, but incredibly thin, stone bridge which led to the platform. And now she was standing on the upper platform of the tower attempting to get anything, anything at all from the tower other than. ACCESS DENIED. As the words flashed again on the crystal frame, the geisha could feel her patience reaching its limits. She was certainly not feeling the benevolence she had named the tower after. The geisha had been standing there for almost a span just trying to determine how to make the surface do something else, anything else. She slammed both her hands against the screen once more in frustration. To her surprise, the crystal suddenly changed and began displaying a series of symbols. Some she recognized. Others she did not. What was even more peculiar was that few of the arrangements seemed to speak aloud. She glanced closer at the various assortments. As she looked closer, she began to realize that some indeed were speaking, just barely. She soon realized why. For whatever reason, most of the arrangements were missing critical symbols. Fortunately, the geisha smirked in triumph, they were symbols that she already knew. And with that, the geisha began to slowly piece together the meanings of the cryptic script._

**Post Story Author's Note: So hopefully that helped answer some of the questions from last chapter's reviews. Anyways, what did you think of this chapter? This is Odd's first part in the "main" section of the story and so I was a little worried I'd stumble a bit when writing his character (I'm far from being as quick with wit as he is). **

**So did I do good? Alright? Terrible? Please keep the reviews coming! Until next time, readers!**


	10. Chapter 10

**Author's Note: Awesome reviews! Thanks as always, and now to answer some of your questions. As one of you has asked, I don't really feel like it would be a spoiler to say that Odd, Ulrich, and Yumi will be materialized. I mean, as soon as they're discovered it's kind of inevitable knowing Jeremy and Aelita. And as for your challenge lyokowarrior, I regret to inform you that I have not actually ever watched Naruto and so am an ill fit for such a task. Therefore, I encourage you to take on the project yourself. Afterall, you don't have to post every chapter you write (my story here actually went through quite a few rough drafts before I deemed it ready to be posted). So with all that said, I hope you all enjoy.  
**

**Now on with the story...**

_The samurai crouched over the crude map of his desert before gazing off into the distance. Something strange was happening in the desolate wasteland he called home. The monsters that he had hunted and fought for so long were becoming more and more numerous, especially near the Tornado Peaks. As such, he had been driven away from his home within a home, the Oasis. With the Tilting Plains too dangerous to traverse for the moment and the practical infestation of the Sand Hills and Floating Plains, the boy and his clones had been forced to retreat to the Northern Wastes. The sparse and relatively small wasteland had been one of the last places he had explored due to its difficulty in being reached. So far as he knew, there was only three narrow land bridges which connected the various plateaus of the Northern Wastes to the mainland. One of which he and his clones had managed to block with a massive landslide while the other two could be seen from his position. A vague rumble in the distance informed the warrior that his counterparts had succeeded in blocking off one of the many canyons that crisscrossed through the region. He was no fool. He had realized some time ago that no longer was he the hunter but the hunted. And now, he could only wait until his enemies came to him._

_The geisha slumped against the edge of a nearby cliff with a heavy sigh. Leaning her head back against the smooth stone behind her, the raven-haired girl closed her eyes and let her mind drift. Not in the focused clearing of meditation but the random and chaotic swirl of one exhausted. Once she had discovered the strange new cryptic speaking words, she had hardly ceased in attempting to decipher them. For nearly a period straight now she had remained in the Tower of Benevolence, slaving away to understand their meaning. Yet all she had managed to deduce was that they were instructions of some sort. Instructions for something so complex that the procedures and problems the strange texts described were nearly beyond the geisha's grasp. And so, weary from her hard work, the geisha had chosen to leave the tower for a time. Not to meditate. Not to hone her telekinesis. Not even to explore. No, she had come to rest. And as she did so, she realized that while she had been scouring the mountains recording everything she had seen, she had never once really sat back and took in the scenery. Opening her eyes, the geisha glanced around at the mighty mountains that loomed around her, clothed in mist and peppered with hardy, green trees which clung to the rocky ledges. Feeling her mind grow calm and relaxed, the geisha closed her eyes once more and listened as a slight breeze wound its way through the towering peaks._

Jeremy, William, and Aelita sat at there usual table in the cafeteria. As the two boys were busy eating there lunches, Aelita was regaling them with stories about their new friend Odd and the glacier-covered land he had told her about.

"Three tarantulas at once?" William asked before taking another bite of his meal as Aelita finished yet another story about the clearly adventurous feline. "That sounds a little hard to believe. Are you sure he wasn't exaggerating?"

"From what I've seen of him so far? Probably," Aelita conceded, gently rolling her eyes at the thought. The truth of the matter was that Odd had told the story with _five_ tarantulas in it rather than her aforementioned three. "He can get pretty excited when he's telling a story. I get the feeling that he's not the type to take being alone very well."

"Guess he's the polar opposite of Einstein here, huh?" William smirked towards Jeremy, who glanced up at him to give him something akin to an offended expression.

"And what," Jeremy asked, a flash of indignance making itself known it his voice. "Is that supposed to mean, exactly?"

"Oh, come on," William rolled his eyes in disbelief. "Like you don't know what I'm talking about. You spend practically all your free time in either your room or the computer lab working on some program or another. And when you do actually interact with someone, it's either a teacher or one of us."

"So?" Jeremy huffed grumpily, crossing his arms. This was not the first time his friends had brought up his self-imposed isolation. "I have a job to do. A very serious job!"

"We know that," Aelita assured her friend gently before adding with a hint of amusement in her voice. "We just can't help but wonder _what_ on Earth you're going to do with all the free time you'll have once we defeat Xana."

"You know, despite what you believe, I _did_ have a life before I discovered the supercomputer and met you two," Jeremy retorted. William feigned a questioning look towards Aelita.

"Well don't look at me," Aelita replied to the silent question, the corners of her mouth quirking. "That was before my time."

"Yeah, and I've only been here for a year," William added, exchanging another mischievous glance with Aelita. "What is this 'life' you speak of? I've heard some rumors of a kid named Jeremy who was always getting the right answers in class and was always locked up in his room doing something or other."

"But that can't be right!" Aelita exclaimed, grinning widely now. "That's how he is _now_! And since he's clearly stated he's changed, that can't possibly have been him!"

"Haha," Jeremy laughed dryly. "Very funny, can we talk about something else?"

"Alright, but you know Jeremy, you really make it too easy," Aelita replied, laughing slightly along with William as Jeremy just rolled his eyes. "What did you want to talk about?"

"Well, since you both seem to be a pair of jokers," Jeremy began, earning a slight huff from William and a slight smirk from Aelita. "I figured I'd send you with Lyoko's apparently resident joker, Odd, to go survey _his_ virtual reality."

"Really?" William asked excitedly, while a flicker of uncertainty stole across Aelita's face.

"Are you sure?" The pinkette asked, nervously thinking of the last time she had visited another virtual world. Jeremy seemed to sense the reason for her concern.

"Don't worry, Aelita, I'm sure it'll be nothing like Carthage," Jeremy comforted Aelita reassuringly. "Besides, despite his apparent tendency to exaggerate, I bet Odd knows his way around there pretty well. And this time you'll have William along for the ride, too."

"Alright," Aelita nodded slowly, shaking off her fears and gradually becoming enthused by the idea of exploring a whole new world. "When do you want us to go?"

"Well, I was thinking I could send you on your little expedition right after school if that's alright with you two," Jeremy informed his two friends, who turned to look at each other before shrugging in agreement.

"I've got no plans," William affirmed nonchalantly. Jeremy looked over to Aelita.

"I'll return to Lyoko as soon as school is out," Aelita announced. "I'll find Odd and tell him what we're going to do and then I'll meet you at Tower One."

"Sounds like a plan, then," Jeremy affirmed. "Now if you'll excuse me, for once I feel like actually finishing my meal."

* * *

Odd surveyed the clearing below gleefully, grinning at how high up he was. He had certainly had a blast climbing the many trees of Lyoko. For once he now had plenty of places to practice some of his more acrobatic tricks, something he had found difficult to do in his home due to the lack of trees - or for that matter a lack of anything which even resembled trees. Now, however, the hybrid was currently in the process of scaling Lyoko's sole mountain. Aelita had pointed the peak out to him before he had left, even mentioning that she had once even created a stone staircase into the side of the mountain. Odd however, having climbed far steeper and more perilous - not to mention more slippery - peaks, had opted to scale the mountain the old-fashioned way. After all, he could always use Aelita's Staircase whenever he wanted. But for his first time reaching the peak of the mountain? That required something special and challenging. Not that climbing this mountain in particular was challenging for the feline, but it was the thought that counted. With a slight grunt of exertion, Odd pulled himself over the edge of the mountain's peak. Climbing to his feet, he brushed himself off casually.

"Well, that took you long enough." A teasing voice came from the direction of a rocky outcropping at the top of the mountain. Odd was so surprised that he took a step backwards, nearly falling off the edge of the mountain in the process. Waving his arms frantically before plunging them down in front of him, claws extended, Odd glared exasperatedly at the virtual elf leaning casually against a nearby boulder.

"Say that when I'm just climbing over the edge so that I can fall to my death next time, why dontcha!?" He shouted out, voice dripping with sarcasm and tail lashing in annoyance.

"Oh, you'd have been fine," Aelita smirked, rolling her eyes at her overreacting friend. "This is a virtual world, remember? At most you would have lost a few life-points, besides it would've taught you to use the stairs next time. I worked hard on those, you know."

"Well, I was planning on using them _eventually,_" Odd protested, standing up from his crouched pose. "I just wanted to climb the mountain. Besides, using the stairs is cheating anyways."

"Oh?" Aelita quirked an eyebrow. "Then it's a good thing I didn't use the stairs, then."

Odd shot a startled glance over at the virtual elf. "You climbed up the mountain?" He asked, somewhat incredulous of the fact that the pinkette had beat him to the top. Aelita just shook her head, however. "Then, how-" Odd began to ask.

"Overwing," Aelita replied before Odd could finish his question. She inclined her head in a direction off to Odd's right.

"What's a...," Odd began to ask as he turned to look in the direction Aelita had indicated. He broke off as he caught sight of a strange grey platform that hovered slightly off the ground and had what looked like a control console with handlebars sticking out of it. Realizing he still did not know what the strange object was, Odd finished his question. "So...what is it?"

Aelita rolled her eyes gently as she walked over to the overwing, stepping onto it and gripping the handles. "It's a vehicle," Aelita replied. "It helps me get around Lyoko faster. Now hop on," she ordered, gesturing to the floor of the overwing. "We're going to meet William at Tower One."

"You mean the tower that brought me here?" Odd asked as he cautiously approached the overwing. 'Whelp,' he shrugged. 'Can't be much harder than riding a krab.'

"The very same," Aelita confirmed as Odd carefully stepped onto the overwing, placing his paws on her shoulders in anticipation of the overwing's acceleration. All the same, he was not prepared for how fast the seemingly slow-looking overwing accelerated. Paws flying off of Aelita's shoulders, Odd waved his arms about trying to get a hold of anything to keep him from falling over backwards off the overwing. Aelita shot him a glance over her shoulder as Odd finally managed to latch his arms around Aelita's waist.

"Geez, Odd, you're almost as bad as Jeremy," Aelita commented, slowing down slightly so that Odd could reposition himself into a better position to ensure he made it to the tower without falling off. The hybrid, however, had no idea what Aelita was talking about.

"Huh, what do you mean?" Odd asked, confused by the reference.

"Oh, nothing," Aelita shrugged to herself. "I'll tell you about it later then you can give Jeremy a hard time about it as much as you want."

"Um, okay," Odd replied, still unsure of what he was agreeing to. "Speaking of friends, William's the other guy you told me about, right? The one who comes to Lyoko to help you fight monsters?"

"That's right," Aelita confirmed. "He's going to meet us at the tower. Jeremy's planned a little trip to your world for us, so it looks like you're going to be able to give us that grand tour you were talking about after all."

* * *

"So to summarize, how much do we know about this Odd character anyways?" William shot over his shoulder as he climbed up the ladder leading to the factory.

"Pretty much everything I've told you so far," Jeremy shouted up to the older boy as he gripped one of lower rungs of the ladder before heaving himself up. "From what we can tell, he's the guardian of his virtual world similar to how Aelita is to Lyoko. Strange things is, he doesn't seem to able to interact with the towers, the network, or even manipulate the virtual landscape."

"Maybe that's just an Aelita-thing," William suggested, offering Jeremy a hand and pulling him up onto the bridge. "After all, Odd's the only other guardian we've encountered so far. Besides, you said he was armed, right? Maybe he doesn't need creativity as much as Aelita does."

"Perhaps," Jeremy conceded, shoving his hands into his pocket as he walked towards the factory. "But still, you'd think as the guardian of a virtual world he'd have...well...more."

"Eh, maybe he does but he doesn't know about it," William shrugged as he walked over to one of the three ropes that hung from the factory's ceiling.

"Or he hasn't told us," Jeremy suggested as William swung down to the factory floor, Jeremy coming to a somewhat less graceful landing beside the older boy.

"What makes you say that?" William asked, raising an eyebrow, as the two boys walked over to the elevator. Jeremy shrugged, not quite sure of the reason himself.

"I don't know. I just feel like there's more to him than he's let on."

"Or that he knows," William defended Odd again. "After all, he said he woke up in a tower with no memory. There's no reason we shouldn't believe just that. Besides, didn't you tell me that's exactly what happened with Aelita?"

"Well, yes," Jeremy conceded, pressing the descent button in the elevator and standing still as the door closed shut and the elevator shuddered to a start. "There's just something...I don't know."

"Well I have an idea," William suggested as the elevator continued its journey. "Aelita's been spending a lot of her free time on Lyoko with him. Maybe that's why you're so suspicious of him."

"What does that have to do with anything?" Jeremy asked sharply, starting to form a good idea of what the older boy was implying as the elevator ground to a halt.

"I'm just saying its a possibility," William replied, raising his palms slightly to the younger boy, who was busy inputting the password for the vault-like doors to the computer lab.

"Look, if you think I'm jealous -," Jeremy began as he walked over to the supercomputer interface before being interrupted by William.

"You said it, not me," William quickly shot back. "Now, you gonna send me to Lyoko or not?"

"Fine," Jeremy muttered as he took a seat at the console and William headed down to the scanners. "Conversation was starting to get out of hand anyways."

With that, Jeremy began to prepare the virtualization process for William. He also began to run up the hologrid program so that he could begin monitoring Lyoko.

* * *

"When is he gonna get here anyways?" Odd asked, lazily throwing a pebble off the edge of the grassy platform. Aelita rolled her eyes gently at the feline's impatience.

"There'll be here soon," Aelita informed her restless friend, who got up from where he was sitting to walk over to her. "It takes a little while to get from Kadic to the factory."

"If you say so," Odd shrugged before gesturing over his shoulder with a thumb. "Where's the tower for - what was it, Forest Mountain?"

"Yes, Forest Mountain," Aelita confirmed before answering Odd. "And as for the tower...it was destroyed by Xana."

"What!? How!?" Odd practically shouted, shock racing through him as he gazed up at the tower he and Aelita were standing next to. He had always seen the tower's as impenetrable and unyielding, always safe havens from monsters and blizzards. To hear that they could be destroyed sent a tremor of horror through the boy.

"Xana used a pair of megatanks," Aelita replied solemnly, looking sadly in the direction of Forest Mountain. "My...our creator, Franz Hopper, was attempting to make contact with the others and I. Needless to say, Xana was not enthused at the idea."

"Why? What's this 'Xana' got against you guys and Franz Hopper anyways?" Odd asked, morbidly curious to know more about the menacing and obviously very powerful Xana.

"We stand in the way of him and the real world," Aelita explained, taking a seat on a nearby rock and wrapping her arms around her legs, looking somewhat discouraged. "If he gets past us then there would be no one to stop him. Who knows how much death and destruction he could cause."

"Oh," Odd breathed out slowly, an expression of uncertainty flitting across his face as he tried to think of a way to comfort the young elf. "Well...then I guess its a good thing I came along!" Odd exclaimed. "Now that you guys have some help - well some more help - we'll take down Xana in no time."

Aelita gave Odd a grateful smile before laughing out loud, her voice sounding like chimes in the wind. "I guess everything hasn't been as bad as I've made it out to be," Aelita admitted after she had finished laughing. Odd raised an eyebrow in a question to which Aelita responded. "Well, if Xana hadn't infected me with a virus then we would have shut down Xana and the supercomputer - and you along with it."

Now it was Odd's turn for silence as his mind contemplated his near miss. Before either of them could break the silence, however, another voice did.

"Well, I hope you two haven't missed me too much," Jeremy's voice came from above, eliciting a startled yowl from Odd as he leaped up into the air, still not used to hearing Jeremy's voice come out of nowhere. Aelita let out a small giggle at the feline's antics before responding to Jeremy.

"Well, I can't speak for Odd, but I haven't been away from you that long have I?" Aelita asked teasingly. She could just imagine Jeremy rolling his eyes slightly.

"I guess not, but anyways," Jeremy replied matter-of-factually from above. "William'll be arriving soon. I hope you guys are ready to head to the Ice Zone."

"Ice Zone?" Aelita raised an eyebrow at Jeremy's name for Odd's virtual home.

"Well, its full of ice. Besides, do you have a better name for it?" Jeremy protested over the comm. Aelita shrugged to herself in response, however Odd seemed to have an idea of his own.

"Yeah!" He shouted out enthusiastically. "How about Odd's Amazing Winter Wonderland! Has a nice ring to it, doesn't it?"

"Quite a mouthful though," a new voice came from behind Aelita and Odd, followed by a light thud. Odd whirled around to face the newcomer, while Aelita did so much slower and calmer, recognizing William's voice immediately.

"'Sup, Aelita," William greeted the virtual girl before turning to face Odd. "So I'm guessing you're Odd, then? Name's William."

William held out his hand to Odd, who just stared at it for a moment before giving Aelita a confused look. "You shake it," Aelita informed with a small smile. A light dawned on Odd's face and he took William's hand and shook it.

"Well, nice to meet you , William!" Odd exclaimed enthusiastically.

"Likewise," William huffed in amusement as he lowered Zweihänder to the ground. Odd's eyes widened as he finally noticed the massive blade.

"Wow, big sword," Odd commented. William glanced down at Zweihänder fondly before turning his gaze back to Odd and chuckling slightly.

"What?" Odd asked, confused at the source of William's amusement. William shook his head gently.

"Oh, it's nothing," William assured the feline. "It's just that your getup looks like its from Kung-Fu Commando."

"What's that?" Odd asked curiously. William shrugged nonchalantly.

"Eh, it's just a video game. Lyoko's way cooler though."

"Yes it is, and where we're going is even _cooler_," Aelita interrupted the conversation of the two boys. "That is, if we ever manage to get there."

"Alright, alright, we get the hint," William drawled, sharing an amused glance with Odd.

"Okay then," Aelita nodded, satisfied, before turning her gaze up towards Jeremy. "Jeremy, we're going to enter the tower and head towards the Ice Zone."

"Alright, Aelita, you're clear from this end so go when you feel ready," Jeremy replied, a few key clacks just audible in the background.

Aelita nodded to herself, clenching her fists in determination. Looking back towards Odd and William, who nodded their support, Aelita squared her shoulders and walked into the tower with Odd and William close behind.

William let out an involuntary gasp as he walked through the side of the tower, the walls rippling around his form as he did so. Once through, William rolled his shoulders in discomfort, somewhat disconcerted by the experience. Odd shot his new friend a glance.

"First time?" The hybrid guessed, noting William's reaction to entering the tower.

"Yeah," William nodded, making a face at the odd sensation. "Was it like that for you the first time?"

"Uh, I guess so," Odd replied haltingly, rubbing a paw against his neck. "I kinda fell _through_ the wall my first time, so I was more surprised by that than anything else."

"Speaking of falling," Aelita commented as she walked towards the edge of the platform. "That's exactly what we're going to have to do in order to get to the Ice Zone."

With that said, Aelita calmly lifted her arms level to her shoulders, closed her eyes, and leaned over the abyss below before plunging down into its depths. Odd and William rushed to the edge and looked down.

"Does she always do things like that?" Odd asked, glancing at William while pointing down into the chasm below. William shrugged.

"No," he replied casually. "Usually she doesn't give you any warning at all."

The two boys stood on the edge of the platform for a time before Jeremy's voice came at them.

"You guys going to go anytime soon? Aelita's already in Odd's tower," he informed them dryly.

"Um, age before beauty?" Odd gestured to William hesitantly, unsure of where he had gotten the saying from as always. William glanced at the hybrid, a slight hint of mischief in his eyes.

"Okay," William shrugged, a relieved look crossing Odd's face. "But you and Aelita were in stasis so you're older than me by at least ten years!"

Odd's relieved look quickly changed to one of panic as William slapped him on the back, causing him to plummet down into the depths of the tower.

"Don't worry!" William called, amusement filling his voice as he heard Odd's scream, before jumping down after the hybrid. "I hear cats always land on their feet!"

* * *

Aelita stood in the center of the platform, a hand resting on her hip as she waited for the two boys to finally arrive.

"What's taking them so long?" Aelita asked, a touch of impatience working its way into her voice.

"Just some...pre-flight jitters," Jeremy replied to the virtual elf. "They should be arriving soon."

No sooner had Jeremy said this than Aelita began to hear a vague yelling, swiftly followed by Odd flying out of the chasm and landing on the platform on all fours, looking a little frazzled from the ride but otherwise alright. William was the next to arrive on the platform, albeit much calmer than Odd.

"See?" William told Odd with a smirk. "I told you cats always land on their feet."

"Well it didn't help that you _pushed_ me!" Odd protested, glancing at Aelita for support. The pinkette, however, just looked away innocently, deciding to stay out of this. "Some friend you are!" Odd protested before turning his glare onto William. "Do you people always do things like this? Push other people off of ledges or startle them so much they almost fall off themselves?"

"Well, I'm not sure what that last one was about," William replied, glancing at Aelita, who feigned ignorance. "But, yeah, pretty much - at least when there's not any actual danger. By the way, did Aelita tell you about the time she materialized a boulder above my head? It was my first time on Lyoko, too."

"Are you still going on about that?" Aelita rolled her eyes gently. "That was _ages_ ago."

Odd just stood their looking between the two before shaking his head. "You people are crazy! You want the five star tour or not?" William shot a look to Aelita, who held out a palm for herself.

"I'm afraid I'll have to take you up on your offer later," Aelita replied. "Jeremy and I have some work to do in the tower. I'm sure William will be happy to go with you though."

"Sure thing, let's see this 'Amazing Winter Wonderland' of yours," William affirmed enthusiastically. Odd shot a questioning look at Aelita, but she simply gestured for the two boys to go on without her.

"Okay then," Odd shrugged, somewhat disappointed at having one less person to share his home with. "Let's go William."

With that the two boys made their way out of the tower, William shuddering once more as he passed through the seemingly solid wall.

"Alright Jeremy," Aelita said up to her friend, who had been sitting silently, patiently waiting for the others to leave. "Let's get to work."

* * *

William rolled his shoulders awkwardly yet again as he stepped out of the tower. When his gaze set on the landscape in front of him, his eyes widened at the sight of the vast, imposing ice-covered land before him.

"Whoa," William breathed as he surveyed the land, which gleamed and sparkled ever so slightly from the cloudy but still quite bright sky. Odd stood a little ways ahead of William, paws on his hips as he proudly surveyed his homeland. Finally, after sometime of staring out into the crystalline landscape, Odd sighed ever so slightly.

"As awesome and beautiful as Lyoko is," he pondered out loud. "It's good to be home."

William walked over to his new friend and glanced over the side of the icy cliff before turning back to the hybrid, sheathing Zweihänder in the movement.

"Alright then, how 'bout that tour you were talkin' about," William finally said, snapping Odd out of whatever thoughts he was thinking. The hybrid's pondering expression changed to one of enthusiasm in the blink of an eye.

"Okay then! Welcome to the Slippery Slopes!" Odd exclaimed, spreading his arms wide to indicate the entire plateau. "Home of some of the best ice slides you've never seen - but soon will!"

"And where are these ice slides of yours?" William asked, mouth quirking in amusement at the hybrid's enthusiasm. Odd began to walk away from the icy ledge. As William began to follow, however, a buzzing noise familiar to both of the boys began to fill the air.

"Wazps!""Hornets!" Odd and William exclaimed, respectively. The two quickly whirled around to come face to face with a whole swarm of the creatures, at least two dozen in all.

"Jeremy, Odd and I are about to be surrounded by a whole swarm of hornets!" William attempted to inform the group's de facto leader. He received no response, however.

"Um, yeah," Odd started awkwardly, eyes wide at the sight of so many wazps. "I think Aelita said something about not being able to contact your friend Jeremy from any place but the tower."

"When did she say that!?" William asked Odd, incredulous that the scatter-brained hybrid had heard something that the older boy had missed. Odd rubbed the back of his neck.

"Uh, before you arrived," he announced lamely, before jerking his attention towards the rapidly approaching group of hornets. "Don't worry about that though. I bet we can take these flying creeps."

William said nothing as he drew Zweihänder slowly, white energy crawling slowly up the massive blade. Rolling his eyes at his stoic friend's seriousness, Odd cocked both his wrists.

"Bet I can take down more wazps than you," the hybrid grinned to the dopplesoldner. William looked over to Odd with a smirk.

"We'll see about that!" He said, returning Odd's challenge. With a swift movement, William swung Zweihänder through the air in front of him, releasing a massive wave of pure white energy. The energy wave slammed into a half dozen hornets, instantly devirtualizing them. Odd gawked at the spectacle for a second before firing off a volley of his own.

"No fair! That's cheating!" Odd protested even as his first volley decimated an equal amount of wazps. William just shrugged.

"Eh, what can I say? When you've got it, you've got it."

"You and Aelita are practically the same person just with different color schemes!" Odd retorted.

"Hardly, just wait 'till you get to know us better, then you'll really see the differences," William replied before the two boys were finally engulfed in the swarm of hornets which was still a dozen strong even after losing half of their number. The battle to follow was one without words as arrows collided with wazps, laser bolts flew through the air, Zweihänder swished back and forth cutting the monsters in half, and the two boys avoided the acidic pools of liquid dispersed by the hornets. In a matter of seconds the battle was over as quickly as it had begun. Odd and William surveyed the surrounding landscape, eager for more battle due to the sheer exhilaration. Finding none, however, Odd turned to William.

"Ten wazps, beat that!" He boasted triumphing, holding his fists up in the air. Needless to say, he had not counted the wazps prior to the fight.

"Easily, fourteen," William grinned back in return. "There were twenty-four hornets in all. I guess math's not your strong point, huh?"

"What!?" Odd exclaimed in disbelief, running through the battle in his mind to see if William had, indeed, scored more monsters than him. To his dismay, he found that William had. That left only one question unanswered. "What's math anyways? And what does it have to do with fighting?"

William stared at Odd blankly for a moment before shaking his head slightly. How was he supposed to explain math to someone who had apparently no idea what it was? Instead, William decided to change the subject.

"Nothing, you can ask Aelita if you want," William replied, sure that the girl genius would be perfectly capable of explaining math to Odd. "Now where were these ice slides you were talking about?"

Odd raised an eyebrow at the change in topic, the purple markings on his face moving with it, but he shrugged it off before getting a mischievous look on his face as he seemed to notice something behind William. As William turned to see what Odd was looking up, the hybrid pushed the dopplesoldner forward into a nearly concealed hole in the icy ground. The same hole, in fact, that Odd had first fallen into all that time ago. As William slide down the ice tunnel with an elongated yell of surprise, Odd couldn't help but laugh at the older boy.

"Hey, I think I'm starting to see why you guys like doing this!" Odd called after William, his voice echoing against the ice. "It's pretty funny!"

Once he was sure William was far enough down the ice tunnel, Odd hurled himself after his friend with a whoop of exhilaration.

* * *

"Okay, that didn't work. Try the other access port," Jeremy informed Aelita as she poured over the tower's interface. She quickly did as Jeremy asked. A whoop of excitement from his end informed Aelita that her attempt had been successful.

"Alright! I've got access to the tower! I should be able to scan the surrounding area now," Jeremy announced ecstatically. Aelita let out a small smile at the boy's enthusiasm. "Okay, got it! Huh...Odd and William are fighting a swarm of hornets. Looks like they just can't stay out of trouble."

"Should I go and help them?" Aelita asked, concerned for her friends' safety, especially Odd as he was presumable like her in terms of being devirtualized.

"No, their fine," Jeremy replied nonchalantly. "In fact, they just took care of the last monster just now. Besides, now that I have access to the tower, the materialization program will work when William gets devirtualized. As for Odd, I'm sure he's gotten out of plenty of tight scraps before. I wouldn't worry about it to much."

"Huh, you're telling _me_ not to worry?" Aelita asked, only partially feigning disbelief. "After all those times _you_ spent worrying yourself to death over me and William? You're telling me not to worry."

"Uh, well, yeah," Jeremy replied tentatively. "I guess all your lectures and pep talks sunk in."

"I guess so," Aelita replied skeptically before turning back to the interface. "Anyways, we better get back to retrieving as much data as possible. I can't wait to explore the Ice Zone with William and Odd."

* * *

"Wooohooo!" Odd shouted as he whirled in a series of loop-de-loops around the ice tunnel. He could just barely hear William's shouts ahead of him over his own whoops of exhilaration. Of course, whether William's shouts were from excitement or something else, Odd couldn't be too sure. Eventually seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, Odd skillfully flipped himself onto his paws, pushing off as he slid off the ice ramp. Somersaulting through the air, Odd gracefully landed on all fours, skidding slightly over the slippery ice.

"Hey, William! Where are you?" Odd shouted, twisting around and around in order to find William. A series of muffled shouts came from within a nearby snow drift. Walking over to the pile of snow, tail twitching in amusement, Odd quickly leaped backwards as William's massive blade emerged from the drift, plowing away half of the snow that surrounded the dopplesoldner. Incidentally, while Odd had managed to avoid William's blade, he did not manage to avoid the small avalanche of snow caused by William's action.

"Waaah!" Odd yowled in surprise as he was half-buried in snow. William smirked slightly as he pulled himself out of the remainder of the snow bank.

"Ha! Serves you right for pushing me into a hole," he remarked as he walked over to Odd, offering the hybrid a hand. Taking it, Odd was pulled to his feet by William and both proceeded to brush the snow off of them.

"Hey, at least admit it was fun!" Odd insisted indignantly. William gave a small sigh before glancing back towards Odd.

"Alright, it was fun," William conceded. "A little."

Odd rolled his eyes at William's stubbornness and was about to reply when he was interrupted by the disembodied voice of Jeremy.

"Okay, testing," Jeremy's voice came, causing Odd to jump into the air once more. He swore he was never going to get used to that. "Alright, Odd, William, can you hear me?"

"Loud and clear, Einstein," William answered, shooting an amused look at Odd, who glared back at him defiantly. "What's the news with the tower?"

"Well, Aelita's managed to...how should I put this...unlock it," Jeremy replied before elaborating. "I now have the ability to scan the surrounding plateau. In addition, I can now virtualize and materialize you from this specific area of the Ice Zone."

"Wait, what? You mean you couldn't materialize me just a while ago?" William asked, shock all too apparent in his voice as he thought back to the swarm of hornets he and Odd had encountered.

"Yeah, but don't worry," Jeremy consoled his older friend. "Even if you had been devirtualized, as soon as Aelita unlocked the tower, I would have been able to materialize you."

"And if she hadn't been able to unlock the tower?" William challenged.

"Um, then we wouldn't be having this conversation either way," Jeremy replied, partially avoiding the question. "Oh, and by the way, you might want to get out of there. My scans are picking up a tarantula heading in your direction."

"A tarantula? You don't say?" Odd said, a sly look in his eye. "I wonder if it's the same one that shot me into the tower and off the platform."

"Huh? What are you talking about?" Jeremy asked while William gave Odd a questioning look.

"Didn't I tell you guys how I got to Lyoko?" Odd asked, swearing that he had. "A tarantula got a cheap shot on me and knocked me through the tower wall and off the platform. Then I found myself outside another tower, in a forest, with _two_ megatanks!"

"Yeah, I was there," Jeremy reminded Odd dryly. "Besides, I thought you told Aelita that there had been three tarantulas?"

"Oh, well, I might have exaggerated slightly," Odd admitted sheepishly. In fact, Odd had told the story to Aelita with five tarantulas in it.

"Just slightly, huh?" Came Jeremy's voice again as sarcastic as ever. "Anyways, you wanna get a move on? That tarantula's closing in."

"Nah, we got this," Odd dismissed with a flick of his paw. "Right, William?"

"Yeah, sure," William affirmed, eager to take down a tarantula. "Just try not to get yourself killed okay?"

"Pffft," Odd waved off. "You might want to worry more about yourself."

"Well, worry about things later, the tarantula should be in sight now," Jeremy informed the two boys, a screeching roar in the distance confirming his statement. Odd readied his laser arrows, balancing on the balls of his feet as he prepared to dodge any laser fire from the tarantula. Meanwhile, William hefted up Zweihänder, gripping the massive sword in both hands. Finally, the tarantula charged into view, altering course and letting out another menacing roar as it noticed the boys. Once it had gotten close enough, it lowered itself onto its hind legs and raised its front two.

"Cover me," William ordered Odd as he rushed forward with Zweihänder by his side.

"You got it," Odd replied, running sideways to the tarantula all the while unleashing a flurry of laser arrows which, while impacting the beast, did little more than distract the tarantula. The monster let out a confused volley of laser bolts, haphazardly switching between each boy. William continued to rush forward with Zweihänder while Odd provided cover fire. Eventually, however, the tarantula decided to focus on the nearest threat, much to the chagrin of William, who was devirtualized by the sudden onslaught of laser fire.

"NO!" Odd cried out in dismay before charging at the tarantula in rage while unleashing his remaining arrows in a furious onslaught. The tarantula stumbled back as its mark was hit by a half dozen arrows. Odd ignored his triumph as his rage faded and he fell to his knees, staring at where William had been devirtualized.

"Jeremy...," Odd began mournfully. "It's William, he's..."

"Been devirtualized, yeah, I know," Jeremy replied. Odd was shocked at the boy's apathetic tone.

"How can you act so...so - he was your friend!" Odd shouted, enraged by Jeremy's seeming lack of care for William.

"Odd, what are you talking about?" Jeremy asked. "Didn't Aelita - or William, for that matter - tell you that it was alright if _he_ got devirtualized? That was the whole reason we asked him to join us in the first place!"

"Wha...," Odd began before thinking back. In the heat of the moment, he had indeed forgotten that Aelita had told him something along those lines. He fell backwards onto the snowy ground, letting out a ragged sigh of relief. "You people are going to give me a heart attack, you know that?"

"Well, then it's a good thing you're virtual then," Jeremy joked. "No heart to have a cardiac arrest."

"You really need to work on your jokes, Einstein," Odd huffed, picking himself up into a sitting position. He had no idea what a 'cardiac arrest' was, but, from what he'd heard of Jeremy, it probably just meant 'heart attack'. Of course, then again, Odd wasn't quite sure where he had gotten that expression from or what a heart attack actually was.

"Whatever," Jeremy muttered indignantly. "Just head back to the tower, Aelita's waiting for you there. We'll continue our expedition into the Ice Zone tomorrow."

"Whatever you say, Jeremy," Odd replied, getting to his feet and brushing off the snow from himself before heading back up the hillside. He was somewhat disappointed by the brevity of their journey to his home, but he figured that Jeremy just didn't want to risk Aelita being devirtualized. Either that or they had something else to do in the 'real world'.

* * *

It was time for dinner before William brought up Aelita's absence from the school.

"Hey, Jeremy, where's Aelita at anyways?" William asked the younger boy as he sat down across the table, setting his meal down in the process. "I haven't seen her since our little expedition."

"That's because she hasn't been _here_ since our 'little expedition'," Jeremy answered moodily, picking at his meal. "She said she wanted to show Odd around Lyoko some more."

"Nothing wrong with that," William remarked. When Jeremy didn't respond he continued. "You shouldn't be so worried about it."

"Me? Why would I be worried about Odd and Aelita?" Jeremy asked, shooting an indignant look towards William.

"You know very well why," William accused slightly. "And it's ridiculous. So Aelita's spending some of her free time with Odd instead of you. Big deal. It doesn't mean anything. And besides, think about it this way. Odd's the only other AI Aelita has met so far. At least, the only other one not trying to kill her. It's only natural she'd want to spend some time with him."

"I know," Jeremy conceded, sighing slightly in defeat. "I just...I don't know."

"Hey," William placed a hand on Jeremy's shoulder. "It'll be fine, trust me."

* * *

"Central Forest, Eastern Forest, Western Forest, Northern Forest? Who came up with all of these names anyways?" Odd asked as he leaped from tree, enjoying the chance to practice his acrobatics. Aelita watched him with amusement as she walked on the forest path below.

"Jeremy did, for the most part," Aelita called up to Odd. "Though I was the one who decided which direction was North."

"He's not very imaginative is he?" Odd remarked from his perch on one of the branches of a nearby tree. Aelita glanced up at him, shooting him a look before answering.

"I wouldn't say that," Aelita countered. "He's just more practical when it comes to naming things. Besides, he's only been to Lyoko once before, so it's not like he's been able to really _see_ any landmarks he could name each section after."

"Well, he could ask you," Odd suggested as he jumped from his branch, somersaulted through the air, and slidding down a tree trunk in a spiral with his claws etching lines onto the tree.

"Well, I _have_ named some places, you know," Aelita countered. "Take the Marsh and Forest Mountain for instance. I named those."

"Well, those are the only ones with original names," Odd commented before adding slyly. "That is, except for _Aelita's_ Forest."

Aelita shied away slightly from the name, ducking her head briefly in embarrassment. Odd gave her an amused look, his tail twitching in amusement.

"Why don't you like that name anyways? Isn't it kind of cool that you've got a whole forest named after you?" Odd asked, before humming to himself softly as he rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Though, it probably be cooler if the whole place was named after you, huh?"

"Oh, goodness no," Aelita replied, shuddering slightly at the thought. "It's not that I don't like Jeremy naming my forest after me. It's sweet in all. But it's just so weird to say. I feel like I'm talking in third person when I call it by name."

"Oh, yeah," Odd rubbed the back of his neck. "I hadn't thought of that. I guess it would be kinda weird. Though that reminds me, who named this place Lyoko anyways?"

Aelita gave Odd a curious look to which he responded to by holding up his paws in defense. "Not that I don't like it," he assured the girl. "I'm just curious."

"Well," Aelita shrugged gently. "Lyoko was named by the man who created it: Franz Hopper."

"You and Jeremy have mentioned him a lot, but I haven't really heard you say all that much about him," Odd remarked, his eyes catching sight of a nearby tangle of tree branches and vines that looked like they would make an interesting climb. He restrained himself, however, as he waited to hear Aelita's reply.

"Well, that's because we don't know that much about him," Aelita replied softly, thinking back to Franz Hopper's encrypted diary. "And so far he hasn't contacted us again yet."

"Eh, don't worry," Odd said, trying to comfort the girl. "I'm sure if he had something important to tell you guys, he would find a way to do it. If he's as smart as you guys make him out to be."

"He is," Aelita replied, sinking deeper into thought. Odd looked about cluelessly, searching for something that would improve the virtual elf's mood. Eyes alighting on the nearby tangle of branches and vines, a grin spread across the hybrid's face.

"Hey, Aelita, you ever climbed one of these trees?" Odd asked. Aelita was startled by the seemingly out-of-nowhere question. She frowned slightly as she thought of the answer.

"Um, no, not really," she replied slowly, gazing curiously over to the blond. "Why do you ask?"

"Oh, no reason," Odd replied slyly. "Bet you can't beat me to the top of one, though."

A small smile crossed Aelita's face at Odd's challenge. "You're on," she announced before racing off to the nearest tree. Odd quickly raced after her, yelling in indignation but only partly meaning it.

"Hey, that's cheating! We're supposed to start off at the same time!"

_"Hold the line!" The samurai shouted to the duplicate of himself that was standing beside him. The two were busy deflecting a barrage of laser fire from a small group of bloks. So far, the samurai and his clones had managed to block off all but two passages that led to the tower. The other open passage was where his second doppleganger stood watch. Recognizing that the bloks' attack was probably a diversion, the samurai signaled to the warrior next to him to begin pushing forward. Slowly but surely, the two samurai made there way towards the bloks, even managing to take out two of them by deflecting their laser bolts back at them. Finally getting close enough, the samurai triggered his super-sprint and surged forward towards the center blok. "Impact!" He shouted as he leaped onto the top of the blok, plunging his sword into one of its eyes before jumping off the monster and hurling his katana into the eye of another. With the last two bloks distracted by his feat, the samurai's clone quickly followed in suit. Unfortunately, the clone was obliterated by the last blok even as its sword plunged into the monster's eye. The samurai surveyed the now quiet battlefield, walking over and picking his sword up off the ground and sheathing it. His moment of rest, however, was not to last as a yellow blur signified the arrival of his other duplicate. "Report," the boy instructed his replica. As his clone responded through hand signals to him, the samurai's worst fears were confirmed. This attack had indeed been a distraction, as two iron spheres were on there way to his last line of defense - the tower. And if they cut him off from it, then he was doomed._

_The geisha strode carefully between the rocky crevice before her. Due to the time she had spent inside the towers she had become somewhat out of practice with moving through her mountainous home. Seeking to correct this, the girl had concluded her study of the crystal panel for the present. Now, for the moment, the geisha was determined to pick up where she had left off and finish exploring the Eye. After that, she would then move onto the next plateau - and the tower which would accompany it. Walking carefully out into an open area on the outer edge of the Eye, the geisha froze at the sound of an ominous rumbling. Staying still and completely quiet, the geisha glanced around the rocky terrain, searching for the source of the menacing noise. She quickly found it in the form of what appeared to be a smooth boulder rolling towards her. She quickly realized that this was no boulder but instead a construct of metal. Her fears were realized when the metal boulder ground to a halt, a ring of eyes deploying around it as it opened up to reveal a sickeningly red interior of entrails. And in the center of the tendril-like mass was a single eye. The same eye that was on all of the creatures she had fought before. Whipping out her fans, the geisha readied herself for the monster's assault. The geisha, though, was not prepared for the wave of crimson energy which emanated from the monster and surged towards her with lethal intensity._

**_Post Story Author's Note: So, I hope you've enjoyed this latest installment. What did you think? Once again, reviews, critiques, questions, comments, et cetera are always welcome. So thanks in advance, and until next time readers!_**


	11. Chapter 11

**Author's Note: Once again thanks for the reviews! I apologize for the lateness of this chapter. I had actually intended it to be posted a couple of days ago. Alas, due to a mixture of procrastination and unexpected events, I did not. Oh well, it's out now (at least I presume it's out since you're reading this). So, since there wasn't any questions from the reviews, I have a question for you, readers, regarding Hiroki's weapon. Although not wielding shuriken or kunai, I am stuck between a naginata, a pair of kama, or a kasari-gama. If you have any thoughts on this, I hope you will post them along with your review. So with that taken care of, enjoy!**

**Now on with the story...**

_"Impact!" The samurai shouted as he and one of his doubles plunged their swords into the side of the cliff. The cracks that embraced the bottom of the rocky column spread and lanced out from the points of impact, looking not unlike a web. The samurai let his arm drop down, the tip of his sword tinging against the ground. After the initial attack on his tower by the two iron spheres had been driven off, the samurai had been nearly overwhelmed by the small army of roaches, hornets, and bloks that had followed. Now, however, there was a break in all the fighting. The boy knew that it would not last and only signaled that the monsters were regrouping for yet another assault. Which was why the samurai and his clones had begun work on blocking off one of the last two passages to the tower. It was no easy task, however, as each pass were wider than the canyon was tall, making it difficult to block off the entire opening. Still, the samurai thought as he raised up his katana once more, this obstruction would at least prevent the larger and more clumsier monsters from getting through, namely the bloks, walkers, and iron spheres. Face set in grim determination, the samurai signaled to his clone before plunging his sword into the rock once more with a shout. "Impact!" This time, the boulder creaked and rumbled as it crashed down onto the desert sand below, effectively blocking half of the canyon._

_The geisha stared across the thin bridge of rock at the steel boulder. This was the second time she had encountered one of these strange creatures of metal and flesh. The first time she had barely survived the encounter. Now, however, she was perfectly safe - as long she stayed on the tower's isle. The geisha had no intention of spending the rest of her existence, however long that might be, stuck on this rock, though. And so, having done all she could do within the tower for the present, the geisha had emerged to face the monster. The geisha quickly whipped out her twin tessen fans and began to race across the bridge towards the steel boulder. Noticing her approach, the sphere deployed itself at the end of the bridge, energy converging on its eye. The geisha hurled one of her fans towards the sphere in a single swift motion, forcing the sphere to close itself. Her fan deflected off the hardened armor of the creature. The geisha was a third of the way across the bridge when the sphere deployed again. Once again the geisha threw a fan towards the opened steel boulder, forcing it to close. By the time her second fan had deflected, the geisha was two-thirds of the way of the bridge. Skidding to a halt, the geisha held out a hand towards her opponent, a serene aura of white light forming around her. Her second fan whirled back towards the sphere, forcing it to jerk shut even as it briefly opened. Once the fan had deflected again, the steel boulder deployed itself once more only to be struck dead center by the geisha's first fan which had curved around, flinging past the geisha and towards the monster while it had been distracted by the other. Catching both fans smoothly in each hand, the geisha watched in satisfaction as the steel boulder shattered into pieces before disappearing altogether._

"Aw, come on. It'll be fun!"

Odd balanced precariously on top of a fallen tree, victim of a megatank, as he said this. Despite the width, or rather lack thereof, of the tree trunk, the boy balanced on it with an ease that astounded Aelita. She could only imagine he had gained such a sense of balance from his time spent wandering through the icy, and no doubt slippery, glaciers of his homeland. She didn't hesitate to remind Odd of the reasons his idea to give her a private tour of the Ice Zone was off limits.

"Now Odd, you know we can't do that," she reminded him gently. "For one thing it's too dangerous. Before you only had to look out for yourself, you didn't have to worry about someone else."

"Oh please, I saw how you handled that group of kankers," Odd replied, arms level with his shoulders as he lazily walked along the tree trunk. He was referring, of course, to the most recent Xana attack. While Jeremy and William had dealt with a pack of possessed wolves in the forest, Aelita and Odd had managed to take care of the tower on Lyoko.

"Odd, my creativity may be powerful but it has its limits," Aelita told him, rolling her eyes slightly at his stubbornness. "For one thing, it takes time and concentration - not something you often have in a fight, especially not in the open. Besides, some of Xana's creatures, wazps for instance," Aelita said, using Odd's name for the small, flying monsters. "They have me completely outmatched. Sure, I can try to outmaneuver them and make walls in front of them, but more often than not they're just too fast and agile for me."

"Pffft, wazps," Odd laughed. "Did I ever tell you about the time me and William took out a whole army of wazps? Piece of cake."

Odd stopped all of a sudden and wavered slightly back and forth on the log, a oddly ponderous look crossing his face. Aelita glanced at him curiously.

"What is it?" She asked, wondering what could have possibly turned the feline so serious.

"Oh, nothing," Odd shook it off with a smile. "Just wondering where I came up with that. 'Piece of cake?' I don't know how I come up with these things. What's a cake, and why do I say a piece of it when I mean to say something is easy? Ah, well, the mysteries of life I suppose."

"Well not so much really," Aelita smoothly informed him, much to his surprise. "Cake can be pretty tasty, and 'piece of cake' is just a saying people use to express how easy something is."

"Huh, what? You mean you actually know what I'm talking about when I say things like that?"

"Well, yeah," Aelita replied matter-of-factually. "I thought you did, too."

"Uh, I didn't actually," Odd muttered, his face briefly downcast for once before brightening once more in a manner Aelita could only compare to a computer rebooting. "Besides, that's beside the point! Which is that you haven't even seen my home yet!"

"Odd you're unbelievable, you know that?" Aelita exclaimed, exasperated. "One minute you're thinking on something deeply for once and the next you're back to whatever hair-brained scheme you've concocted beforehand."

"Eh, well, if you can't blow something up or get around it, no reason to keep worrying about it," Odd shrugged, performing a somersault off the log and landing gracefully on the forest floor, arms spread out. "Besides, I've always found that if I just wait, something will come along to solve the problem for me."

"You really are something," Aelita huffed, shaking her head at the puffed-up feline. This comment didn't seem to ease his ego, however. Instead, it rather seemed to inflate it.

"Yep, that's me! One of a kind," Odd boasted shamelessly. "Monster hunter extraordinaire, fearless adventurer, skilled monster rider, flawless acrobat-"

"And shameless braggart," Aelita finished for him with a smirk. Odd feigned a hurt look.

"It's not bragging if it's true," Odd protested to which Aelita just rolled her eyes with a knowing smile. Despite his constant crowing, she enjoyed Odd's company. "And all of it is!"

"Oh, really?" Aelita smirked knowingly. "And what about those five tarantulas you were fighting before you came to Lyoko?"

"Uh, I was excited," Odd made up a quick excuse after a moment. "I mean I'd never had anyone to tell stories to. And if I just told them to myself as is, then I'd get bored."

"Uh-huh, so you're saying you would tell stories to _yourself_, and not only that but you would exaggerate them?" Aelita huffed in amusement to which Odd sent her an indignant pout.

"Hey, you would be telling stories to yourself if you thought you were the only person in, well...anywhere!" He huffed before mumbling, "You were lucky to have Jeremy to talk to."

"I guess I was," Aelita murmured, looking over to her downcast friend. Aelita sighed to herself. She shouldn't do it, but...

"Just a tour of the Slippery Slopes," Aelita conceded, Odd perking up instantly at Aelita's acceptance. "And not for too long - we go through some ice slides, sight see, and then we come back."

"You mean it?" Odd grinned gleefully. Aelita nodded in confirmation, hoping nothing would go wrong on their trip. Odd, though, seemed to lack a care in the world as he leaped up and let out a loud whoop of excitement.

* * *

"Belpois!" Jeremy flinched slightly at the booming voice of Kadic's gym teacher, Jim. Said coach was currently marching down the hallway like a bull. 'Oh, great, what now?,' Jeremy thought, groaning inwardly and sharing a glance with William, who was walking next to him.

"Is something wrong, Jim?" William asked. Jim appeared confused for a moment, not an uncommon occurrence.

"Why do you say that, Dunbar?" Jim asked with a mixture of surprise, confusion, and a dash of indignance. "Just because I want to ask someone a question, doesn't mean there's anything wrong! Although in your case I guess that's an exception!"

William rolled his eyes slightly as Jim regathered his thoughts, trying to remember what he was going to ask Jeremy.

"Anyways!" He declared, turning to Jeremy. "I was looking for Aelita. Wanted to talk about her joining the soccer team. That whole javelin thing may have been a mistake but there's no denying that she can run!"

'Not this again,' Jeremy groaned silently once more. Although Aelita had managed to convince Jim of her 'extremely-light-javelin' ploy and she tried her best to reign herself in during phys. ed., Aelita's spectral form still made it seem like the girl was a prime athlete. Hardly a week would pass before Jim would come up with another offer for the pinkette. Jeremy had suggested she join at least one sport to get Jim off their backs, but Aelita had been adamant. She felt like she would have an unfair advantage. "No," she had told him, "if I'm going to compete its going to be square and fair with my own body, not some specter." Jeremy could hardly argue with that even if he had corrected Aelita's use of the aphorism.

"Gee, Jim," Jeremy began, searching for an excuse he hadn't used before or at least wasn't worn out yet. "I know that the soccer team's a little low, but you know how Aelita is. She's still getting over her lose. I'm sure she'd be glad to join next year, though."

"Yeah, well, that's what you two always say," Jim grumbled, almost to himself. "Where is Aelita anyways?"

"Oh, she went to bed early," William jumped in, covering for the virtual girl. Jeremy shot him a look of gratitude as the younger boy no longer had to come up with the excuses. "She had a long day you see. Lots of homework last night and a bunch of tests today. I'm sure you could talk to her sometime tomorrow."

"Hmm," Jim grumbled in concession. "I suppose so. Anyways-"

Whatever Jim had been about to say was banished from all thought as a scream ripped through the air. Whirling to face the cause of the noise, the Jim, William, and Jeremy were surprised to see a student levitating in the air before flying against the wall as if thrown by something. One by one each student in the hallway began to be lifted up before being thrown to the side. William and Jeremy glanced at each other, now behind their gym teacher.

"Xana?"William asked, though he sounded like he already knew the answer.

"Unless you believe in ghosts...Xana," Jeremy confirmed. Before they could act on this, though, Jim was suddenly tossed aside be whatever _thing_ Xana had sent, and Jeremy lacked the time even to shout as he felt something coil about his throat and lift him slowly into the air, cutting off his lungs from the much needed air that would have allowed him to cry for help.

* * *

A blur of purple flew threw the frozen air as Odd soared over the icy landscape before landing gracefully onto the frosted ground. He turned around to face the ice slide he had just come from and smirked when he heard Aelita's scream of exhilaration come from the tunnel. A few seconds later, a blur of pink shot out of the tunnel and into the sky.

"Hey, Aelita!" Odd called, noting that the virtual elf was spinning rather haphazardly through the air. "You might want to land on your-" _Poof! "...feet."_ A small snowstorm erupted from where Aelita landed, face first, into a snow bank. 'At least she landed on a soft spot,' Odd cringed as his advice came to late. He rushed over to where a pair of legs stuck out from the snow. Twisting around, the two pink-clad legs were joined by similarly colored arms and a head. Aelita shook the snow from her hair, looking somewhat frazzled by her landing. Then she gave Odd a look that was somewhere between exasperation and annoyance.

"Might want to land on my _feet_?" She quoted crossly. Odd offered a paw, which she took, and helped the young elf up. "Is that the best advice you can give? Because it's easier said than done."

"Oh, right," Odd smiled sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck with his other paw. "I guess it would be. William said something about cats always landing on their feet. Though there was that one time I landed in a snow bank..."

"What's this?" Aelita smirked, humor glowing in her eyes. "The great and magnificent Odd is admitting he's not perfect. You have a few glitches?"

"First off, I never said I wasn't perfect," Odd corrected, raising a finger matter-of-factually. "And second, it was my first time! And it snuck up on me!"

"It snuck up on you?" Aelita could barely speak as she put a hand over her mouth, trying not to burst out laughing. "A hole in the ground snuck up on you?"

"Hey, it was a very sneaky hole in the ground!" Odd protested, crossing his arms as Aelita finally burst out laughing. "It was completely covered in snow and ice. Besides, William fell down it too."

"More like pushed down from what I heard!" Aelita snorted, still giggling at Odd's protests. Odd looked indignant at this.

"Well he pushed me first. Down the tower," Odd mumbled as Aelita finally stopped laughing. If she had been human, she would have probably been wiping tears of mirth from her eyes. "Anyways, at least I landed upright my first time."

"Whatever you say, Odd," Aelita replied, giving the boy a playful wink. "Now how about we go for some sight-seeing before we have to get back to Lyoko? I'm sure Jeremy and William will be checking in on us soon."

Odd opened his mouth to reply but no words came out as a sudden, ominous boom echoed throughout the ice-covered plains. Odd's mouth snapped shut as a flicker of fear crossed his face. Not fear for himself but rather fear for Aelita. Unlike him, she was not the best climber, and they were currently at the bottom of the Slippery Slopes. Not a good place for even him to be when the pulsations began.

"Xana!" Aelita exclaimed, a mixture of fear and anger passing over her face. She lacked the time to say more before Odd grabbed her hand in his paw and began to run in the direction of the tower, pulling the pinkette along with him.

"Odd, where are you taking me?" Aelita asked, surprised at Odd's sudden move. Odd glanced around. Already he could see a snowstorm begin to form over the Slippery Slopes - and no doubt every part of his home.

"We have to get to shelter before the storm starts!" Odd shouted an explanation. Aelita, it seemed, did not quite understand his meaning.

"Hold on!" She shouted in annoyance, jerking her hand from his and crossing her arms. "What storm? What are you talking about?"

"What? Didn't I tell - no, probably not. Every time there's a pulsation, a snow storm builds up. I don't know how to describe it, but it just sucks the life right out of you! We have to get to safety!" Odd quickly told Aelita, grabbing the startled pinkette's hand once more and racing for a small opening in the cliff side. Aelita started to run faster beside him as the wind picked up and the air began to fill with snow, now more like small icy needles. Once they reached the cliff side, Odd shoved Aelita into the opening of the small cave before climbing in himself. Odd brushed off the ice that had formed on his tail as he and Aelita traveled deeper into the cave. Once they were far enough in, Aelita sat down wearily on an icy platform that Odd had carved some time ago tho resemble a chair. Meanwhile, the hybrid contented himself with layng on the ground, partially curled up and ready to wait out the storm. Aelita, however, was more frantic.

"Odd, we can't stay here! We need to find the activated tower!"

"What're you talking about?" Odd mumbled, somewhat drained from even the short time the two had been snowbound. "If you're talking about one of those glowing, red towers, the only one of those here is on Blizzard Plateau, and that's across the Ice Zone."

"You make it sound like it's always active," Aelita replied crossly, seemingly annoyed at the feline's lack of drive. Odd, for his part, was confused by Aelita's urgency. Sure, on Lyoko pulsations signaled a tower activating, but that was Lyoko. Here, all the pulsations were simply signs of a storm to come.

"Well, it is," Odd replied nonchalantly, much to Aelita's obvious surprise. He quickly added, "Well, at least I think it is. I've only caught a glimpse of it once, but I assume it's active all the time because it's always storming on Blizzard Plateau. That's why I named it that."

"But what about the pulsations and the storms?" Aelita asked. Odd lifted his head from his paws. There was something in Aelita's voice that bothered him.

"Well...they stop eventually, they all originate on the edge of the Ice Zone and converge on the Red Tower. Sometimes it takes a while, but at other times they're over pretty quickly," Odd informed her, growing more concerned as the expression on Aelita's face deepened.

"Odd," she told him very seriously. "Tell me about every storm and pulsation you can remember. Tell me how long ago they were and how long each of them lasted."

* * *

"Jeremy!" William shouted in shock as the younger boy was suddenly lifted up into the air before his eyes. Jeremy's quiet breaths turning to strangled gasps signaled that whatever was attacking the boy was asphyxiating him. But what exactly was attacking him, William could not discern. An idea suddenly sprang into his mind. Searching around the hallway, William lunged for a nearby fire extinguisher. Gripping it firmly in his hands, William pointed the nozzle towards Jeremy and, presumably, his attacker. White foam shot from the red, metal canister and towards the air around Jeremy. Sure enough, the foam coalesced around a glimmering, blurred figure. Crackling into the visible spectrum, the specter was unlike any William had encountered before. Unlike its counterparts, this specter appeared to be made of tar or soot. Not hesitating for a moment, William lifted the fire extinguisher and sent it crashing down through the specter. Losing cohesion, the specter released Jeremy from its grasp. The boy fell to the ground, William rushing to his side to help him up. Jeremy gasped erratically as his body tried to take in as much air as possible.

"The factory!" Jeremy wheezed urgently. "We need to get to the factory!"

"Got it, but that might be harder than you think," William told his friend as the specter reared up with a screech before melting into the walls of the hallway. "We better get moving. Fast!"

With that, William and Jeremy began making their way out of the building, William half-carrying Jeremy for a time. They had barely reached the door when the specter, invisible once more, struck again. William shouted in surprise and dropped the fire extinguisher as he was pulled up into the air. He quickly felt something wrap around his throat and torso, squeezing the breath out of his body. Fortunately the specter was unable to attack for long, as Jeremy had hastily picked up the fire extinguisher and was now using it to reveal the specter before causing it to pixelize once again.

"Thanks," William nodded to Jeremy.

"Consider us even," Jeremy replied before motioning to the door. "Now let's get going before it can reform. I don't know about you, but I don't want to see how long this fire extinguisher's going to last."

* * *

"You want to run that by me again?" Odd asked, voice wavering slightly at what Aelita had just told him. For once, Aelita seemed to lack her usual amount of patience.

"Odd, you can be so thick!" She exclaimed, exasperation all too present in her voice. "Every time these pulsations go through the Ice Zone, a tower on Lyoko becomes activated! That means if I can't get to Lyoko then this storm _won't_ end!"

"Oh," Odd replied in a small voice. "Just wanted to make sure that's what I heard."

"And now I'm trapped here!" Aelita ranted. "Ugh, I should have never have come!" Seeing the hurt look on Odd's face, Aelita quickly corrected her statement. "I mean it was nice and fun and all, but we should have waited for Jeremy and William. At least then we might have been able to get back to Lyoko somehow."

"Well, we still can," Odd murmured, still somewhat stung by Aelita's outburst. He understood why she had said it, and he knew that she had meant no harm by it. Heck, he even knew she was probably right. Still, it did hurt somewhat all the same.

"What do you mean?" Aelita asked in a gentler voice, obviously trying to take back the effects of her previous words. Odd turned to point to a thin nearby crevice.

"This ice cave goes on for quite a while and comes out near the tower. If we go through it then maybe we can make a run for it. It'll be a tight squeeze though. Believe me, I know. I got stuck once."

"Well, if it'll get us to the tower...," Aelita replied, biting her lower lip slightly. She began to move towards the tunnel but paused to look at Odd. "I'm really sorry, Odd. I didn't mean for it to come out like that at all."

"Eh, it's all right," Odd waved off, putting a smile on his face for the girl. "It probably wasn't my best idea. We should've waited. Anyways, you might want to let me lead you through the tunnels. That way we can get through faster."

"Lead the way, then," Aelita gestured to the narrow crevice. Odd quickly sprinted over to the opening on all fours before skillfully leaping through it, just barely squeezing through the narrow entrance. Aelita followed more slowly and quite a deal more clumsily. Slowly, but surely, the two began to gradually make there way up and through the twisted corridor of ice. Aelita was once again amazed by how gracefully her friend could move, as he seemed to slide and climb through the narrow tunnel with ease. Aelita, in the meantime, could hardly go a few meters before slipping on the slippery ice or getting her foot wedged in a crack. Suddenly, as the two entered a wider part of the cave, Aelita lost her footing and began to fall into an icy chasm that ran parallel to the tunnel. Her shout was cut short as her hand was gripped by a strong paw, and Odd hoisted her back up onto the narrow ledge.

"Might not want to go ice sliding at the moment," Odd told her with a smirk. Aelita gave a small smile in reply and the two began to make their way through the narrowing passage once more.

* * *

_Pffft! Pffft! _The fire extinguisher wheezed and sputtered as its reservoir of foam was depleted. Fortunately what little foam had exited the canister was enough to cause the specter to shimmer into existence. William swung through the specter for what felt like the millionth time. The digital being had chased Jeremy and William all the way to the factory, grabbing one of them more than once. Standing to his feet shakily, Jeremy quickly regained his senses and grabbed onto one of the factory's ropes and swung down alongside William.

"That thing just won't give up, will it?" William asked as he landed on the floor, a hint of frustration in his voice. Jeremy stole a glance behind him as the two boys raced into the elevator.

"Nope, Xana's not going to let a fire extinguisher and a couple of kids deter him," Jeremy quipped, pressing the descent button.

"Yeah, well you'd think a couple of Lyoko Wanderers would make him pause a bit," William retorted as the elevator jerked downwards. Jeremy gave William a rueful look.

"Actually, that's probably just going to encourage him all things considered," Jeremy replied, quickly typing in the password as the elevator ground to a halt. The two boys quickly made their way over to the supercomputer's interface, Jeremy taking the pilot seat as smoothly and gracefully as William landing on the factory floor from the ropes.

"Okay, first I need to find the activated tower, Aelita probably isn't too far away from it by now," Jeremy said, almost to himself, as he put the headset on and began to type away. "Aelita, can you hear me?"

There was no response. Jeremy frowned in concern, William looking over his shoulder. The young genius began to type in more commands. Various interfaces popped in and out of existence, all of which were meaningless to the older boy. Jeremy's frown deepened once more.

"I don't understand it," he spoke out loud. "I can't find any trace of an activated tower on Lyoko!"

"Could that mean Xana's found a way to do without them?" William asked, concern all too present in his voice. Jeremy shook his head.

"No, Xana absolutely needs the towers to bridge the gap between Lyoko and the real world. That's why they were created after all. Without them, all Xana can do is effect computers, programs, and the like. And even that is limited by him being trapped in the supercomputer. It's still very dangerous in its own right, but nothing compared to the havoc he can create by using a tower," Jeremy replied, typing in a few more commands. "And to add to our list of mysteries, I can't locate Aelita _or_ Odd on Lyoko."

"What if they're not _on_ Lyoko?" William asked, a disturbing thought crossing his mind. A light bulb suddenly seemed to go on in Jeremy's head followed by a soft curse. William glanced at the boy in surprise as Jeremy began a whole new series of commands and windows before putting his hands on his face and letting out a groan.

"That's what I feared," Jeremy moaned. "There's no activated tower on Lyoko because the tower isn't there at all. It's in the Ice Zone! It's the same one we unlocked. And I imagine Aelita and Odd are over there as well, judging by their apparent absence from Lyoko."

"You don't sound as upset at that fact as I'd expected," William said curiously. Jeremy gave a short laugh and put his hands behind his head. Now William was somewhat concerned. Maybe the stress of the situation had put too much pressure on the younger boy.

"Are you kidding? I'm gonna give them a nice big kiss," Jeremy replied, William looked at him, gesturing for an explanation. "If they had been on Lyoko when this had happened, I'd have never been able to get them to the Ice Zone. The activated tower would have either turned them away or devirtualized them. Of course now, thanks to their little excursion - probably Odd's idea," Jeremy explained, a pang of what William thought might be jealousy in the blond's voice at that moment. "They're now in the perfect position to deactivate the tower. Unfortunately with the tower activated, communication's down between them and us, and to top it off I won't be able to virtualize you there either."

"Well, then," William crossed his arms matter-of-factually. "I guess it's up to Aelita and Odd to deactivate the tower, now."

Jeremy nodded in agreement before his and William's attention were drawn away by a loud clang and bone-chilling screech. William wasted no time in dragging Jeremy out of the chair.

"Hey, you wanna take it easy!?" Jeremy protested as William jerked him from his seat. "You and Aelita both, sheesh!"

"Yeah, well, we'll have to avoid Xana's specter until Aelita can deactivate the tower," William snapped slightly, letting go of Jeremy's arm now as the two headed towards the nearby door that led deeper into the factory.

"Still, no need to rip my arm off," Jeremy muttered as he followed William down the metal ladder that lay right outside the computer lab. With any luck, they would be able to avoid the specter long enough for Aelita to deactivate the tower.

* * *

"Just keep still, okay!?" Odd nearly shouted as Aelita writhed in something akin to pain as her leg was being slowly crushed by a boulder-like block of ice. The hybrid was attempting to edge Aelita out from under the ice block as carefully as possible, but the virtual girl wasn't making it easy for him.

"I'm sorry, Odd," she apologized, straining to keep herself still. "It just hurts so much!"

"I know, believe me," Odd consoled her as he gave up on his careful approach, grabbing onto Aelita with one paw while aiming the other at a spot just above her leg. "I got my tail stuck under one of these once. Now hold on!"

Aelita quickly surmised what the feline was about to do and gripped his arm with both of hers as he shouted, "Laser arrow!", and shattered the ice above her leg. Pulling with all his might, Odd lugged Aelita out from under the ice before it could collapse on her once again. Aelita fell across Odd from their momentum. She held out her arms to stop herself from colliding rather painfully with Odd's head. She lay propped up over him for a few moments, Odd giving her a apologetic grin before something on his chest seemed to catch her eye and she stood up, lightly pushing herself off him. Odd glanced down at his chest to see what had caught her eyes - other than his good looks, of course.

"Huh, looks a bit like Kiwi," Aelita muttered, seemingly to herself. Odd gave one last look at the strange symbol that had always been on his chest before glancing back up to Aelita.

"What's a 'Kiwi'," Odd asked her, but she shook her head slightly.

"Uh, not now, a-ask me later. We have to keep moving," Aelita told him before gesturing for him to lead the way once more. As they neared the surface, Odd couldn't help but wonder at the strange tone that had been in Aelita's voice. He shrugged it off, however, it probably had to do with this 'Kiwi' thing or person, although Odd had to admit the word struck a chord with him, too. They traveled for a few minutes longer in silence, something Odd was beginning to hate, especially when he was around other people. A keen whistling began to slice through the air, signaling the two had neared the cave's exit.

"Okay, we're here," Odd told Aelita as he edged his way as close to the opening as he dared. "The tower should be that way - about as far away from us as that first ice tunnel was from the tower. Now how do you plan on getting us there?"

Aelita did not reply, however, instead she simply followed the direction his paw was pointing. After gazing into the storm for a moment, she raised a hand and opened her mouth. Angelic singing began to fill the air and Odd looked around him in surprise as an icy wall began to form over them. The dome of ice slowly edged its way out of the cave and towards the tower. A light bulb went off in Odd's head as he realized what Aelita was doing. She was making a tunnel to the tower! Aelita stumbled slightly, Odd catching her, as she finished her mantra, the new ice cave now completed.

"Stay awake, Aelita," Odd urged the pinkette before surveying the new ice tunnel urgently. He could just barely make out small cracks in the construct, signs that the storm was already beginning to break it down. "Come on, let's get you to the tower."

"Okay," Aelita mumbled nearly incoherently. Odd let out a small sigh of relief. For a moment he had thought the strain of creating the ice tunnel had been enough to render her unconscious. Slowly, but surely, Odd began to make his way towards the tower with Aelita. About halfway there Aelita fully regained consciousness.

"It's alright, Odd," she said as she pushed herself lightly off his shoulders in order to stand on her own. "I can walk on my own now, thanks."

A near deafening cracking sound echoed through the tunnel. Aelita and Odd whirled around to see a portion of Aelita's construct cave in and begin to fill with a flurry of deadly snow.

"I hope you can run then!" Odd exclaimed, grabbing the virtual elf's hand in his and darting down the passageway. "Or else we're not going to make it to the tower before this tunnel caves in!"

Despite their efforts, however, Odd could see quite clearly that they were not going to reach the tower in time. Already webs of cracks were making themselves known throughout the tunnel. And while he might have been able to reach the tower, running on all fours as he was, Aelita would not. That just left one thing to do.

"Hey, Aelita? Do me a favor, okay?" Odd panted to the pinkette. Aelita glanced over at him, surprise and a hint of fear crossing her face.

"What are you talking about Odd?" She asked, breath heaving as she ran. Odd gave one last glance behind him before suddenly surging forward and skidding across the frozen ground, feet first. He quickly reached back and grabbed Aelita's ankles with his paws before his legs collided with an oncoming obtrusion of ice. Aelita let out a shriek of surprise as Odd, using his inertia along with his strength, flung the startled elf the rest of the way down the tunnel and into the tower.

"Deactivate that tower quickly, huh?" Odd called out his favor as Aelita disappeared into the massive structure and the tunnel shattered, the ice storm engulfing him in its frosty grip.

* * *

William cried out in pain as he was flung against one of the concrete walls of the factory. He tried to push himself to his feet but his arms wavered and gave out. He could not be too sure, but he was fairly certain that he had at least a broken arm, maybe even a broken rib judging by the pain in his chest. So now William was stuck, forced to watch as Jeremy's life was being squeezed out of him, and knowing that he was going to be next. William tried once more to rise to his feet only to collapse again.

"Sorry, Jeremy, I can't...," William muttered, near delirious with the pain that laced through his arm and side. A piercing shriek jerked him out of blacking out, however, and he jerked his head up, hissing slightly in pain as he did so. He was just in time to see the specter disintegrate and fade away, dropping Jeremy to the floor with a thud. The younger boy quickly rushed over to William, concern more than present on his face. One could say many things about Jeremy, but one thing you could not say was that he didn't care.

"William, you alright?" Jeremy asked, slowly helping the older boy to his feet. William winced again and hissed slightly in pain.

"More or less," William grunted as he was slowly helped to his feet. "Feels like a broken arm though - had one before. Maybe also a broken rib."

"Don't worry," Jeremy assured the raven-haired boy. "We'll have to do a return to the past anyways thanks to the show the specter caused at school. But first, I'm going to need to get you to a scanner. We have some work to do on Lyoko before the night's done."

"What?" William blinked, trying to drive away the pain. "What are you talking about? I thought Aelita deactivated the tower."

"She has, but if we're going to have a hope of stopping Xana in the Ice Zone again, we're going to have to unlock another tower. That way, I'll be able to materialize you there to help Aelita and Odd. Not to mention that communications will be opened up for good."

"Okay, then," William nodded wearily. "Least I won't feel so terrible on Lyoko."

"That's the spirit," Jeremy chuckled ruefully."Now let's get you to a scanner."

* * *

_Lyoko, _Aelita sighed in relief as she entered the code into the tower's interface and the structure began to deactivate as it darkened. Aelita could hear the storm outside die down. It was hard to believe Odd had to go through that every time Xana attacked. Aelita's eyes suddenly shot open at the thought.

"Odd!"

The virtual elf frantically ran to the edge of the platform, not even bothering to float down to the lower level. She landed on the base of the tower with a grunt and a thud. No doubt that had damaged her slightly but since she was in a tower, it hardly mattered. All that mattered was that Odd was alright. Rushing out of the tower, Aelita was confronted with the sight of Odd lying on the ground prostrate, not moving a muscle. A slight clicking noise brought the distraught elf's attention to a nearby kankrelat. The creature had probably been caught in the storm as well, but unlike Odd and Aelita had been unfazed by it. The ugly little creature was slowly making its way over to Odd. Anger surged through Aelita.

"Get away from him!" She shouted in rage, startling the kankrelat and drawing its attention to her just before it was sent flying off and over the edge of the cliff by a swift and powerful kick from Aelita. The virtual elf was briefly stunned by the sight of the monster soaring through the air before her mind jerked back to Odd. She ran over to him and knelt by his side, shaking his shoulders frantically.

"Odd? Odd!" Aelita cried out, voice on the verge of tears as she shook the boy harder. "Please don't be dead! Say something!"

The hybrid suddenly stirred slightly. "Something," he muttered with a tired smirk. Aelita collapsed back onto her legs and let out a sigh of relief. As Odd slowly began to get to his feet, Aelita helped him up.

"Odd, I thought you were...," Aelita's voice trailed off. The thought of someone dying because of her, let alone for her, was more than she could bear. Odd gave her a comforting smile.

"Don't worry, it's gonna take a lot more than a snowstorm to get me," Odd consoled the frazzled girl wearily. Aelita began to carefully help Odd towards the tower.

"So who were you shouting at when you said, 'get away from him'?" Odd asked curiously, sending a tired glance around the clearing but seeing no one.

"There was a kankrelat," Aelita informed the exhausted feline. "It was getting too close for comfort."

"What'cha do with it?" Odd asked, some of his old humor returning. "Tear it apart with your bare hands? I didn't here a single angry note of music at all."

Aelita ducked her head sheepishly. "I, uh, I kicked it."

"You kicked it?" Odd asked with a grin that was partly amused and partly incredulous as the two walked through the tower. "You mean off the side of the mountain?" He continued once they were inside. "You kicked a kankrelat off the side of the cliff? Remind me not to be within striking distance of your foot if I get you angry."

"You might not want to get me angry at all," Aelita told Odd as she let his shoulder go and he stretched out his arms onto the floor, arcing his back. "According to William I can be pretty scary."

Soon enough the feline was rejuvenated altogether and he leaped to his feet.

"Huh, I can imagine that," Odd replied jokingly, earning him a raised eyebrow from Aelita. Before she could reply, however, a voice echoed through the tower, nearly sending Odd flying of the platform.

"Aelita, Odd, can you here me?" Jeremy's voice came from above. Aelita rolled her eyes at Odd.

"Aren't you ever going to get used to that?" She told him before addressing Jeremy. "Yes, we can hear you, Jeremy. I've deactivated the tower. Are you and William alright."

"Well if you count having a broken arm and rib as alright, then yeah, William's alright," Jeremy replied.

"Jeremy, I'm sorry we went to the Ice Zone," Aelita began, thinking she had heard some anger in Jeremy's voice. Jeremy cut her off with a laugh much to her surprise.

"Don't worry about it, Aelita," he chuckled, Aelita shared a surprised glance with Odd. "If you hadn't been in the Ice Zone, you wouldn't have been able to deactivate the tower." His voice turned serious as he continued. "Still, that's the reason I've sent William to Lyoko. You guys need to unlock the nearest tower so that I can ensure safe passage to the Ice Zone next time for you guys. You might not be able to travel to the way tower itself if it's activated, but I can make things work out so that you're rerouted to an Ice Zone tower instead of being devirtualized or sent back to Lyoko. Not to mention the fact that I'll be able to communicate with you if there's more than one tower unlocked."

"Alright, Jeremy," Aelita replied, smirking slightly as she caught Odd's bewildered expression upon hearing Jeremy's instructions. "Will do that. When's William going to arrive?"

"Well, he should be right outside the tower at the moment. In fact, I think all he's doing at the moment is waiting for _you_."

* * *

William rolled his shoulders, glad that the pain that had wracked his body mere seconds ago was no more, as he waited for Aelita and Odd to emerge from the tower. While he waited, William gazed out across the Ice Zone. He walked to the edge of the cliff and crouched down as he surveyed the landscape.

"Enjoying the view?" A smooth voice came from behind, one which William immediately recognized as Aelita. Turning around, William saw Odd and Aelita walking towards him. "Are you ready to explore the Ice Zone some more?"

"Huh, I could say the same to you," William replied, resting Zweihänder casually on his shoulder. "Heard you had a little adventurer of your own."

"You could say that," Aelita shared a glance with Odd before motioning to William to follow. "So you coming or what?"

"Definitely coming," William answered, walking up to and along side the two virtual beings. "So where are we headed to exactly?"

"The Snowy Plains," Odd informed Aelita and William. "Or as I sometimes call them, the Boring Plains of Nothing-To-Do."

"Not your favorite place, I take it?" William asked, a smirk tugging at the edge of his mouth.

"Not really," Odd shrugged. "There's not a lot to do there. No ice slides, no mountains or glaciers, nothing. It's just big and flat, and these days I have to watch out for megatanks on top of that!"

"Megatanks, huh?" William echoed, glancing over to Aelita and Odd. "You two rested up."

"Never better," Aelita quipped before turning a concerned eye on William. "Speaking of which, Jeremy said you'd broken an arm and a rib."

"Eh, arm for sure," William replied nonchalantly, as if having his bones broken was a walk in the park. "Not so sure about the rib, though. All I know is that it hurt. Anyways, Einstein has to do a return to the past trip 'cause of Xana's attack."

"Huh, return to the past," Odd huffed in disbelief as the group reached the bottom of the Slippery Slopes and began to cross the ice bridge leading to the next plateau. "How come I've never noticed time reversing or something?"

"Well for one, time isn't actually reversed, the world's just physically reset," Aelita informed Odd, whom William was pretty sure had become lost shortly after. "And two, you're inside a virtual world. They aren't effected by the return trips."

"Eh, whatever you say," Odd shrugged. Yep, William thought to himself, definitely lost. Though, if William were to be honest, it had taken him a while to get the concept down himself. Odd suddenly stopped and turned around, putting his hands on his hips. "Hey, any chance we could get some of those vehicles down here?"

"Thought you'd never ask," Jeremy commented from above, eliciting a startled jump from Odd. At least it was lower than most times. Jeremy had been quiet for some time, though William guessed he was working on whatever program would help Aelita unlock the tower. "Here comes your rides, guys."

With that, three vehicles materialized in front of them. It struck William that he had never seen all three vehicles out at once. Aelita took her traditional overwing, while Odd somersaulted onto the overboard.

"Hope you don't mind!" Odd said to William, a gleam in his eye that said he was more than excited to be on the surfboard-like vehicle. William shrugged as he got onto the overbike.

"Eh, surfing's not really my thing," he said, motioning a wave with his arm, before gunning the overbike slightly.

"Alright, let's get going," Aelita announced as she gunned the overwing with Odd and William close behind. Fortunately the tower was easy to find, being just about the only thing that stood over the flat landscape of the Snowy Plains.

"There it is!" Odd exclaimed, pointing out the tower. "Easy-peasy!"

Aelita and William shared a glance before turning there gazes to Odd.

"Um, Odd," Aelita began. "It's probably not the best idea to say something was easy."

"What? Why not?" The hybrid asked, but before either Aelita or William could reply a dull rumbling sound filled the air and they caught sight of a megatank heading straight towards them.

"That's why," William informed the feline before veering off towards the monster. "You two take care of the tower, I'll deal with this over-sized bowling ball!"

Odd looked like he was about to argue but a look from Aelita silenced him. Without another word, the group parted ways and William surged towards the megatank on his overbike.

"Okay, let's see what you've got," William challeneged as he drew ever closer to the massive monster. Now in striking distance, the megatank deployed and began to charge its energy ray. William leaped from the overbike, hoping to send it crashing into the megatanks core. Unfortunately the megatank was able to charge itself up fast enough to obliterate the vehicle. William landed on the frozen ground with a thud.

"Alright, then, I guess we're doing this the hard way!" William declared as he brandished Zweihänder towards the megatank. The monster responded by sending an energy wave in his direction. Dodging to the side, William ran closer and closer towards the megatank. After the sixth or so blast, William decided to try something he'd never done before.

"Okay, let's see if this works," he thought out loud as he dodged another burst of energy and raised Zweihänder into the air, white energy crawling up the blade. He then swung the massive sword forward, not horizontally as he normally would but vertically. This sent a ray of white energy, not unlike the megatank's own, towards the monster. Unfortunately the megatank was able to fire its own. Fortunately William's was slightly off center and so avoided being deflected, and so impacted with the sphere's core, sending it rolling backwards before exploding. Off balance due to his blade, however, William was caught full in the chest with the megatanks crimson wave of energy. As he was flung through the air, devirtualizing as he went, William could only think about how much more this would hurt when he arrived back in the scanner.

* * *

"Are you done yet?" Odd's voice called up from below.

"Not yet, Odd," Aelita called back, a trace of annoyance in her voice. She turned back to the console. "Alright, got it, Jeremy. Do your thing."

"Okay, then, the tower is being unlocked," Jeremy reported before a slightly distracted tone entered his voice. "Oh, and William's been devirtualized. Good news is so has the megatank. As soon as the tower finishes unlocking, I'm going to launch the return to the past."

"Okay, Jeremy, I'll return to my tower as fast as I can to reactivate my specter."

"Good," Jeremy replied before adding. "Oh, and Aelita? You're going to be staying after school until night time." Aelita opened her mouth to protest, believing this to be about her time spent with Odd, but was cut off as Jeremy continued. "That way _you_ can have a nice, _lovely_ chat with Jim about the soccer team, and William and I can have a break from making excuses."

'Oh joy,' Aelita thought. Well, at least Jeremy wasn't being jealous of Odd this time. Of course, the thought of having _another_ conversation again with Jim was not a very appealing one. Then again, considering how far she had kicked that kankrelat, maybe she should consider trying out for soccer one day, when she had her own body back.

_The sound of laser fire and energy bolts striking metal filled the air. The samurai's katana cut through roach after hornet after roach but more kept coming. The boy had managed to block off this path to the tower just in time to quell an onslaught of monsters. While the iron spheres and bloks were unable to pass the wall of fallen rock, the roaches and hornets were more than capable of overcoming it. The samurai was fighting alone as he had sent his two doppelgangers to guard the only open canyon left. That way, if one was destroyed, the other could quickly run back to inform the warrior. The samurai deflected a laser bolt from a blok into a nearby roach. Using his now quite extensive experience in the battlefield, the samurai quickly scanned his surroundings. There was still about a dozen or so hornets left and about twice as many roaches, not to mention the single iron sphere and the six bloks that lay outside the wall providing cover fire for their brethren. The samurai knew he could not hold the high ground for long, even if it was advantageous. Then again, once the roaches were dealt with the hornets would have the high 'ground' by default, so slowly, but surely, the samurai began to yield ground to the monsters that were attacking him, and in doing so he moved out of the firing range of the iron sphere and bloks. "Now its just you and me," the samurai growled at the mixed assembly of hornets and roaches before charging towards the nearest bunch with blinding speed._

_The geisha walked along the southernmost arc of the Eye. At this rate she would be done mapping the Eye in a little over a period. Granted, she had already taken longer than she normally would have, what with her time spent in the towe,r not to mention the steel boulders. Still, those were not the sole reasons, the geisha had begun to take in the scenery more as well. In fact, she had even stopped in certain places where the view was nothing short of breathtaking, at least if she had a need to breath. In these places the geisha had taken the time to carve a picture of the scene into the rock, not so much to remember it than the sheer joy of the art. The geisha was interrupted from her musings by a shrill roar which echoed through the mountains menacingly. The girl quickly whipped out her fans, positioning one in front of her and one behind her back. She walked slowly forward, turning in a circle as she did so as she scanned for the mysterious creature. She had never heard that cry before. The roar came again, this time clearly from behind her. Whirling around, the geisha gasped. Standing - no, looming before her was a great spider-like creature with sickeningly long legs that were tipped in metal. On its head was emblazoned the symbol of the mountains. The monstrous creature shrieked once more as it lowered itself to its hind legs and directed its forelimbs at her. The geisha did no hesitate to throw her first fan before diving and somersaulting around the bolts of energy that followed. The geisha caught her fan as it was deflected by an energy blast. 'What is this thing?' The geisha asked as her fans moved back and forth before her, barely keeping up with the onslaught of the creatures attacks. Knowing she could not defeat the creature be herself, the geisha was now glad she had decided to admire the landscape. For in return for her adoration, the mountains gave her a weapon. Steeling her mind, the geisha haphazardly balanced the whir and movement of her tessen fans with the calm focus of her mind. Her body glowed in a white light as a boulder far above the creature trembled slightly, already balanced precariously, before crashing down the mountainside and onto the monstrous creature. Her foe vanquished, the geisha wanted to collapse to the ground but she had a task to perform first. Stowing her fans, the geisha lifted a hand as it glowed white yet again. Slowly, but surely, the massive egg-like boulder began to float back towards its resting place. It would take much concentration to balance the massive rock but she owed the mountains that much, at least._

**Post Story Author's Note: So that's it for this chapter. I hope you all had a great time reading it. I'd love to hear your thoughts on this chapter (or my story in general), so please keep the reviews coming. They do a lot to encourage me to write. So thanks in advance, and until next time readers, where Aelita and Odd will be forced to go it alone against Xana's forces.**


	12. Chapter 12

**Author's Note: Thank you for the reviews! For you who are impatient or just curious, I am spoiling nothing when I say Aelita will eventually have her energy fields. You gotta give her some time to program them though! As for your questions lyokowarrior, your first one was actually answered within the last chapter, and you'll just have to wait to find out the answer to your second question. Enough of this author's note, though!  
**

**Now on with the story...**

_The samurai stood stoically on the edge of the canyon. One of his clones stood next to him, while the other as always was guarding the other passage. The samurai scanned the sides of the canyon searching for a weak point in the rock, anywhere that could be made to collapse into the canyon. His keen eyes soon caught sight of such a structure. "There," he pointed out to his clone, who followed the warrior's finger to a large column of rock. "That's where we'll start." The duplicate nodded and took off along with the samurai. The pair quickly arrived at the base of the rock column. Surveying it critically again, the samurai nodded to himself. The rock pillar was just tall enough that it would block at least half the canyon when it fell. Nodding to his counterpart, the samurai raised his sword and prepared to plunge it into the rock. He never got the chance, however, as the menacing roar of a walker sounded through the air and the sound of laser fire heralded the end of the samurai's companion. The samurai braced himself against the monster, expecting more creatures to appear. None did however as the walker launched a barrage of energy bolts towards the samurai. 'It must be a scout or a watcher,' the samurai reasoned to himself as he dodged and deflected the creature's lasers. Waiting a few seconds longer to see if reinforcements for the walker would arrive, the samurai made his move. Rushing towards the creature in a blur of yellow, the samurai circled the creature again and again. The walker shrieked in confusion and frustration. 'Don't like that, huh?' The warrior thought to himself. 'Well try this!' With that the samurai quickly crossed in front of the walker, causing the creature to tilt its head in order to follow. It was then the samurai made his move. Already moving faster than the walker could, the samurai surged forward, driving his blade into the skull of the monster. With a shriek of pain and outrage, the walker jerked its head away from the blade before exploding into so many pieces of metal and flesh before vanishing altogether. The boy stood silent for a moment before brandishing his katana once more as he faced the nearby pillar of rock. "Alright," he said to the rocky column. "Your turn."_

_The geisha carved into the rock her last inscription for the Eye. As she stood up from the massive slab of stone, a somber thought crossed her mind. Would there be a day when she would no longer make these cartouches? When she had explored all there was to explore? She glanced out over her homeland. Although seemingly vast, in the scale of the eternity that seemed to face her, it was actually quite small. Still, the cartouches were not the only thing she could etch into stone. Perhaps one day when she fully mastered the speaking words she could inscribe her own story into the rock, if only for lack of something else to do. She brushed a hand against the cartouche in farewell. Ever since she had first emerged from the Tower of Sincerity, the geisha had never truly returned to a place. To her surprise, she found that her heart was longing to one day return to the Twin Peaks, her home withing a home as it were. Perhaps one day, she mused. Perhaps one day when she had discovered the mysteries of the towers and explored all there was to explore she would return. She would return and rest before setting out on a new quest. This quest would be to discover what she had little doubt was the final secret of the mountains: the secret of the Tower of Dissonance, the red tower. With this set in her mind, the geisha headed off into the east towards the unexplored mountains that lay before her._

"A half dozen hornets and three krabs at six o'clock," Jeremy's voice came from above. William twisted around on the overbike to get a view of the situation before sharing a glance with Odd.

"You take the hornets, I'll take the krabs?" He offered as the two pulled back away from Aelita as she continued to head towards the tower.

"Sure thing," Odd replied. "Just don't fall in the water - unless you're a good swimmer, that is."

With that, Odd and William both performed three-sixties with their vehicles and charged towards the small army of monsters. William briefly glanced at the surrounding ocean. Other than the digital sea, he had never seen a virtual body of water so large before. His gaze was brought back to the krabs as they began to send volleys of laser fire in his direction. Smoothly dodging the barrage, William gunned the overbike and crouched onto the seat, preparing to jump. When he was close enough to the krabs, he jumped off the overbike not behind it but over and in front of it. Knowing he had little time to act, William quickly tilted Zweihänder at an angle and plunged it into the ice. Mere moments later, the overbike hit the massive blade and soared up the sword's length, not unlike a ramp. The first krab was too surprised to do anything before the vehicle slammed into it, destroying both itself and the monster.

"One down, one to go," William quipped as he lugged Zweihänder out of the icy ground, the massive sword carrying his arm a little further than he intended due to its size and inertia. Slightly off-balance, William was caught off-guard by the second krab, which took its chance to send three rapid-fire energy bolts into the boy's chest.

"That's thirty life-points down William," Jeremy informed the dopplesoldner. "You have seventy life-points left."

"More than enough," William grunted as he hefted his sword to deflect the krab's follow up energy blast. Wasting no time, William quickly ran forward, Zweihänder scraping the ice behind him, before leaping towards the krab and sending Zweihänder slicing through its two front legs. The krab screeched in rage as it collapsed onto the ground in front of William. The boy pinned it down with his foot before plunging Zweihänder into its shell. William stepped back as the monster exploded. He gave a small smile of satisfaction as he rested Zweihänder on his shoulder.

"Not bad, not bad at all," Odd quipped from above, hovering down to William on the overboard. "I thought about helping you out but you seemed fine on your own."

"Oh, please," William rolled his eyes as he began to saunter towards the tower Aelita had entered. "You were busy enough with those hornets."

"And might I remind you, Odd," Jeremy reprimanded, Odd for once not startling. "That you've already lost over half of your life-points. Honestly, how did you ever survive by being this reckless?"

"Well usually I kept the bug population down so this wouldn't happen," Odd retorted, sounding somewhat cross. "Although nowadays there seem to be hornets everywhere. It's like you guys stirred up their nest or something."

"Stirred up Xana more like," Jeremy commented before he added routinely. "Anyways, you'd better get to the tower with Aelita. William, once Odd's there I'll re-materialize you."

"Got it Jeremy," William replied, though if were to be honest he had been hoping to stay on Lyoko a little longer. After all, school was over for the day. Still, it _was_ late and they had to be back in their dorms before curfew. "Someday though, I'd just like to have a look around here without having to be on a mission."

"Well for now that's not going to happen, not while Xana's still on the loose," Jeremy replied, as obsessed over defeating Xana as ever.

"Eh, don't worry, William," Odd put in while performing some loops and spins on the overboard in the sky above William. "I'm sure I'd be able to make some room in my schedule for an official tour."

"Your schedule?" William snorted as they neared the tower. "I can't imagine it's that crowded. You're stuck in a virtual reality all day!"

"Oh, you'd be surprised," Odd remarked, a gleam of humor in his eyes, taping a claw against his chin in feigned thought. "There's a lot more to do here than you think. Why my schedule's so full I'm surprised I have time for these missions!"

"Whatever," William rolled his eyes before stopping in front of the tower. "Well, you'd better join Aelita. The sooner I get materialized, the less grumpy Einstein'll be."

Odd and William shared a laugh at Jeremy's protest before the feline jumped off the overboard, waved goodbye to William, and stepped into the tower.

"Alright, Jeremy, I'm ready," William reported to Jeremy, glancing up reflexively as he did so. After presumably bidding farewell to Aelita and Odd, Jeremy responded.

"Okay, prepare for materialization," Jeremy informed the older boy. William glanced down at his virtual avatar as it began to disintegrate into pixels.

* * *

It was some time later that Odd managed to convince Aelita to come with him to the Ice Bridges. Being the plateau adjacent to the Slippery Slopes, the tower of the Ice Bridges had been the third to be unlocked. And so the day found an elf and a feline walking along one of the larger and steeper bridges that headed towards the edge of the Ice Zone.

"So, where exactly are you taking me?" Aelita asked, both curiosity and amusement in her tone at Odd's insistent secrecy.

"You'll see," Odd replied slyly as the duo continued to walk up the steep incline. After having finally managed to convince her to come along, Odd wanted to show her what he considered to be one of the best views in the Ice Zone.

"Wow," he heard Aelita mutter behind him. Glancing over his shoulder, Odd could see that Aelita was currently admiring the view from where they were at now. Already they would be nearly level with the tops of all but the most elevated towers.

"It gets better," Odd grinned as he took her hand and helped her up the final, and consequently steepest, portion of the incline. Climbing over the edge, the two fund themselves on a wide platform-like mesa. Guiding her to the edge, Odd spread out his arms to indicate the entirety of the horizon. Aelita's eyes widened as she gasped at how much she could see.

"You weren't kidding when you said it gets better," Aelita uttered in awe of the landscape. She spun slowly around to take in the full vista. She could not only see almost all of the Ice Zone but also far out into the digital sea as well. Unfortunately the moment was not to last. As Odd opened his mouth to speak, wanting to point out some of his home's landmarks, a mechanical whirring and clicking pierced the frosty air of the mesa. The two whirled around in the direction they came only to find a small army of bloks had arrived. Six in total, the monsters slowly encircled the two virtual beings.

"Stay behind me, Aelita," Odd told the pinkette as he put out a paw in front of her while raising the other in preparation to fire a volley of laser arrows at the bloks. Backing up closer to the edge, Aelita suddenly had a bad feeling. While she had always avoided the edge of Lyoko, it had never occurred to her to avoid the edge of the Ice Zone - until now. A faint whirling sound from behind her confirmed her suspicions as she whipped around and gasped in fright as she came face to face with the transport sphere.

"Aelita, what-?" Odd gasped, having whirled around at the sound of Aelita's own. The hybrid attempted to knock Aelita out of the way of the white and blue sphere, but he only succeeded in entrapping himself in the transporter along with Aelita. The bloks withdrew as the two guardians were drawn into the sphere and hurled away toward the mechanical world of Carthage.

White light flooded their eyes as the sensation of spinning around and around compromised any sense of balance. When the light had faded, Aelita saw that Odd had fallen to his feet. His paws were wrapped around his stomach and an expression somewhere between sickness and pain covered his face.

"Odd! Are you alright," Aelita cried out as she knelt down by her friend, placing her hands on his shoulder. The feline removed his paws from his belly and slowly placed them on the floor before shakily getting to his feet.

"I-I don't know," he muttered, glancing over at Aelita. "I've never felt like that before. It was like...like...I don't know. My belly just felt like it got hit by a laser bolt," Odd shuddered slightly at the thought of the sensation before adding with a glint of humor returning. "Or got kicked by you. You didn't happen to be thrashing around in there and I just didn't notice, now did you?"

Aelita rolled her eyes at his joking question. Well, at least he could recover from whatever had happened to him while in the transport. "No, I wasn't, Odd. Though it sounds like you have a stomach ache. Which is strange. Considering you're virtual."

"What's a sto-" Odd began to ask before he was cut off by a loud grinding noise as a corridor appeared to fall from the ceiling, spinning in a spiral until it collided with the ground. Odd stared at the mysterious archway curiously. "What is this place?"

"Carthage," Aelita answered grimly as she walked over to him, eyes glancing about nervously. "We need to find a switch at the end of the corridor or this whole place will be reconfigured. There's a time limit so we don't have long."

"Okay then, so what does this switch look like anyways?" Odd asked as Aelita took off running down the corridor and he followed swiftly behind, running on all fours to catch up to the girl. He didn't think he had ever seen her run so fast before.

"It's Xana's mark," Aelita informed him as they rounded a corner. "Like the ones on the monsters."

"Ah, okay," Odd panted as they rounded yet another bend. This time they were confronted with two passageways. Aelita looked indecisively between them. Odd looked left and right before choosing the latter on a whim. He had been through a maze like this before and had found that the best way to get through was to keep moving. "Let's go this way."

"Are you sure?" Aelita questioned hesitantly. Odd shrugged in reply.

"Well, we gotta choose one way. Might as well choose this way," Odd replied nonchalantly. "Now let's get going before the countdown finishes."

This went on for some time, as the two came to forks in the passageways, rounded corners, and seemed to go through near identical larger rooms. Finally, it seemed Aelita had thoroughly had enough of Odd's sense of direction - or rather lack thereof.

"Odd stop," she ordered, frustration and annoyance seeping into her voice. "If this is how you get through mazes, then it's a wonder you ever got out of that one in the Ice Zone! I'm sure we've already gone through this passage."

"How can _you_ tell? They all look the same!" Odd huffed indignantly. The look on Aelita's face was akin to that of a storm brewing.

"Which probably means we've already come this way!" Aelita burst out angrily. "We've probably been going in circles! The next time you decide to go somewhere, leave you so-called 'sense of direction' behind! You can't even be sure where we're going!"

"Well, I can tell you this," Odd snapped back. "We haven't been in this corridor yet!"

"And how would you know that!" Aelita shouted in reply.

"Because-" Odd began to yell a reply when the room started to shake and rumble. Behind them a part of the wall suddenly began to extend from the ceiling, blocking off the path from which they had come. Instead of his original answer, Odd continued lamely. "See?" He asked weakly. "This one has a big wall in it."

Odd heard Aelita mutter a word he was unfamiliar with before speaking up. "The timer must have ran out," she announced, pressing her hands against her head as she paced back and forth. "And who knows if we'll be able to get out of here."

A dull roar suddenly sounded from a corridor in front of them. Aelita's eyes suddenly widened in panic as she looked up towards the sound. Odd cocked a wrist and readied his laser arrows. Whatever had made that noise was probably not a friendly.

"Creepers!" Aelita exclaimed to Odd in fright. "We have to get out of here!" She said, grabbing one of Odd's paws and dragging him to the nearest passageway she could find. The two ran down it as quick as they could, but the dull roars kept coming.

"What are these creepers?" Odd panted as they neared the end of the corridor. Before Aelita had a chance to answer, the two skidded to a halt as they were confronted by what looked to be a brown serpentine-like creature that was half made of metal.

"That is," Aelita breathed. Neither of them had much time to react as the creeper opened its mouth and fired a burst of energy. The laser bolt hit Odd squarely on the chest, knocking him off the platform they were standing on and into the chasm below. "Odd!" Aelita shouted and shot out her hand, but it was too late. Odd had already disappeared into the metallic abyss. Aelita whirled around heartbroken as the creeper slithered aside to reveal the repulsive and monstrous form of the scyphozoa. Aelita backed up against the wall, fear and sadness nearly overwhelming her. All that passed through her mind was that this was the end.

Odd groaned as he pushed himself up and leaned on his paws. He shook his head as his vision cleared, the blurry shapes and colors slowly settling into the now familiar world of Carthage.

* * *

"No wonder Aelita hates it here," Odd mumbled to himself as he stood up, pushing off his knees. "They have absolutely no sense of hospitality!"

The hybrid glanced up, searching for a way to climb up the way he came. He rolled his shoulders at the thought of having fallen all that way. He didn't know how many life points he had left, but he was willing to bet that if he was hit one more time then it would be goodbye, Odd. A dull roar echoed throughout the pit, drawing Odd's attention to a creeper, probably the same one that had blasted him, crawling down the side of the artificial cliff.

"Shield!" Odd shouted quickly, crossing his arms as he did so. The purple energy field formed just in time to disperse the creeper's attack. Not wasting any time, Odd quickly aimed a paw at the creeper and fired a volley of laser arrows. Although they did not strike the creatures mark, the creeper reared back and exploded into a sickening mess of organs and metal.

"Well, your bite might be worse than your bark, but you go down easier than kankrelats," Odd quipped. He quickly made a survey of his surroundings to make sure there were no more surprises. He was figuratively on his last legs and couldn't afford to take any chances. Seeing that there were no more creepers or anything else approaching, the feline extended his claws and leapt onto the side of the wall. His claws scored marks against the hard metal as the hybrid slid down the wall slightly before pushing off from the ground and scaling the structure with ease.

"Don't worry, Aelita, I'm coming," Odd exclaimed as he ran up the metal wall before adding in a lower voice. "I just hope I'm not too late."

* * *

Aelita leaped back and forth as she struggled to avoid the scyphozoa's grasp. Anger was beginning to replace her sadness at Odd's loss. She was not going to let Xana win. Unfortunately, she had no idea on how to truly escape the scyphozoa. She could run and dodge its attacks, sure, but that was only a temporary measure. Eventually the scyphozoa would catch her, and without anyone here to help her, the monster would steal her memories for whatever foul purpose Xana had planned for them. And if that happened, she would die and there would be no one to deactivate the towers. And so, she began to focus her mind on the network as best she could, hoping to contact Jeremy.

"Jeremy! Jeremy, can you hear me?" She called out over the connection. She received no response, however. No doubt Jeremy was fast asleep by now, and with the amount of work he placed on himself it would take nothing short of a Xana attack to wake him up. Ironically unfortunate for the moment, Xana only attacked when there was something he wanted to get accomplished in the real world, but all that Xana wished to acheive right now was the acquisition of her memories. She tried calling to Jeremy again but to no avail. She was on her own.

In desperation, Aelita attempted to call upon her power of creativity to try and create a barrier between her and the scyphozoa. Her concentration betrayed her, however, as it robbed the elf of some of her awareness. The scyphozoa easily knocked her to the side, shattering her focus, before it wrapped its tentacles around her, lifting her up in a red glow. With three of its tentacles pressing themselves to her head, darkness overwhelmed Aelita like a tidal wave as the scyphozoa stole her memories.

* * *

Odd put one paw in front of the other as his claws scored marks against the side of the metal cliff. He was nearing the top of the cliff and moving as fast as he could. He could just barely make out a gasp come from Aelita and he let out a breath of thanks that she was still alive. Surging over the edge of the cliff, Odd came up short as he was confronted with the sight of a jellyfish-like creature that had Aelita surrounded in tentacles. The pinkette was surrounded in a red aura, ragged whimpers coming from her as the creature seemed to be draining something from the elf.

"Alright, ugly," Odd snarled at the scyphozoa, for William had told him plenty about the creature. "Let her go!" With that Odd let out a barrage of laser arrows, all of which struck the scyphozoa in various places. The monster screeched in rage as two of its tentacles were severed by the feline's arrows and it was forced to drop Aelita to the ground.

Odd paused to snarl at the creature once more before rushing to Aelita's side, kneeling down to pick the girl up, leaning her shoulders against his chest.

"Aelita, are you alright? " he called to her softly. "Say something."

"Something," Aelita muttered with a faint smile, her eyes fluttering open slowly.

"Hey, that's my line," Odd grinned in return as he helped the young elf to her feet. She placed a hand on his shoulder and held it there for a while as she got her bearings. She then turned to look at Odd, relief glowing in her eyes.

"I thought you'd been devirtualized," Aelita told him solemnly.

"Now how many times do I have to say it?" He asked with his trademark grin. "It's gonna take a lot more than whatever-it-was-you-thought-would-kill-me to get to me."

"I guess so," Aelita replied wearily before standing up straight and giving a slight stretch to rid herself of the sensation of being in the scyphozoa's grasp. "We'd better start trying to get back to the center of Carthage. I'll try to contact Jeremy while we walk, and hopefully he'll get to the factory about the time we get to the center."

"Sounds like a plan," Odd replied before flamboyantly holding out a paw to the nearest corridor. "Ladies first. We don't want to have any walls sneaking up on us again after all."

* * *

Jeremy jerked up his head from his keyboard at the sound of an alarm. He must have fallen asleep while working on Aelita's antivirus. Or had he been working on the superscan? He was too sleepy to remember. Clumsily he scrambled to input the necessary commands to open the connection between him and Aelita. He had no idea how long she had been trying to contact him, but Jeremy was determined not to make her wait any longer. Finally the connection was established and Aelita's face appeared on the computer screen.

"Oh, Jeremy, finally!" Aelita exclaimed, relief reverberating through her voice. "I'd almost started to wonder if something had happened to you."

"What? Why? Is Xana attacking?" Jeremy asked Aelita as he rubbed the sleep out of his eyes, his mind finally beginning to awaken.

"No, well, not you, at least," Aelita assured the boy. Jeremy was far from assured, however, as he sat up straight, his mind clearing instantly at the thought of Aelita in danger.

"He's attacking you?" Jeremy asked urgently. "Are you on Lyoko or the Ice Zone? I'll get William as soon as I can!"

"Jeremy!" Aelita nearly shouted, getting the frantic boy's attention once more. "We're not on Lyoko or the Ice Zone! Odd and I are trapped in Carthage and we need a ride out!"

"How-? What are you doing in Carthage?" Jeremy nearly yelled, his worry beginning to translate into anger. "And with Odd? Did he ask for a tour of the Northern Forest or something?"

"No, nothing like that," Aelita attempted to calm Jeremy down. "We were in the Ice Zone and got cornered by a group of bloks. That's when Xana sent the transport sphere. He must be able to access Carthage from the edge of the Ice Zone as well. But right now Odd and I need a way out," she reiterated. "And please hurry, Jeremy, I'm not how many life-points Odd has left and I'm still a bit woozy from the scyphozoa."

"The scyphozoa-?" Jeremy began to ask incoherently before shaking his head to clear his thoughts. He needed to stay focused on the matter at hand. "Never mind, you can fill me in later. I'll get to the factory as soon as I can, and I'll bring William with me just in case. Just get to the center of Carthage and you should be fine."

"Alright, Jeremy," Aelita replied before the connection was broken off, and Jeremy got out of his chair and headed for his door at top speed to get William and head to the factory.

* * *

Odd and Aelita edged their way around a corner as they moved carefully through the newly reconfigured labyrinth. Despite Odd's protests, Aelita had insisted that she lead the way. For one, he most certainly had less life-points. And two, it was her memories Xana was after, and Xana was not about to let his monsters devirtualize her any time soon.

"Alright, it's clear," Aelita whispered as she peeked around another corner. They had been going through this labyrinth ever since she had contacted Jeremy. Odd scraped his claws against the side of the corridor, one of the more brilliant ideas he had come up with. As they would pass through the labyrinth, the hybrid was to leave claw marks on the side of each junction so that they would know for a fact if they had accidentally circled back. A plus to this was that it prevented them from arguing more, something both wished to avoid. And on the topic of that, "Odd, about earlier," Aelita began hesitantly, glancing over her shoulder to the boy as they walked. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have gotten so upset."

"Eh, it's okay. I was getting pretty snappy, too," Odd shrugged in a manner which Aelita was already becoming familiar with. She wondered vaguely how the hybrid could just shrug things of so easily. In fact, Aelita sometimes wondered if the boy was even _capable_ of retaining anger - or almost anything else for that matter - for any extended period of time. She shrugged lightly to herself. Perhaps it was just his seemingly carefree nature at work. At any rate, it probably made Odd a good companion for her, as she, not unlike Jeremy if Aelita was telling the truth, had a habit of being temperamental. Odd on the other hand, while he could certainly have his moments of sadness or anger, usually remained his normal, amiable, lighthearted self.

"So you want to talk about something?" Odd's question came from behind her, pulling her out of her thoughts. She gave a light smile at the hybrid's inquiry. Apparently the silence had become a bit too much for the boy. Aelita had deduced by now that Odd absolutely hated not talking, at least not when other people were around. It was probably an effect of him being on the Ice Zone alone for so long.

"Alright," Aelita conceded, seeing no harm in conversation. They had not encountered any more of Xana's creatures, so Aelita had become fairly confident that Xana had withdrawn for the day, so to speak. "What do you want to talk about?"

"I don't know," Odd replied absentmindedly, no doubt searching for something to talk about. "What about this 'Kiwi' of yours? You said you'd tell me about it."

"I guess I did," Aelita replied, although she could not quite remember when. Still, she must have mentioned Kiwi at some point for Odd to know about him. "Well, Kiwi's a dog, for starters and a little one at that." Before Odd could ask the obvious question, Aelita continued over him. "A dog's a kind of four legged animal. They're usually no bigger than...oh...a kankrelat."

"And you keep them around?" Odd asked, puzzlement in his voice.

"They're not monsters, Odd," Aelita smirked. "On Earth, most of the creatures _don't_ attack you, and the few that might don't have lasers."

"Oh, are there any of those around Kadic?" Odd asked, no doubt trying to imagine a creature that did not fire lasers. No doubt the closest thing he was getting to an image right now was a blind kankrelat.

"Well, there are some wolves in the woods nearby," Aelita admitted, thinking back to the incident involving Jeremy and William. "But usually they don't stray far and rarely, if ever, encounter people."

"Huh, sounds like a nice place," Odd commented. Aelita gave a slight smile.

"Yes, it does."

"Hey what's that?" Odd asked suddenly. Aelita twisted her head to see where he was pointing. Down one of the corridors that branched off from theirs was what looked like a strange undulating wall of metal.

"It must be a way out," Aelita replied. "William and I came across a similar place when we had to deactivate the tower here."

"There're towers here, too?" Odd asked excitedly. Aelita wondered what the feline had on his mind. She soon found out as he continued. "Do you think there could be a guardian here? A person like us, I mean?"

Aelita paused and considered this. Admittedly, the thought of a guardian of Carthage had not crossed her mind. As she thought on it, however, she realized its improbability.

"I don't think so, Odd," Aelita replied, sad to disappoint her friend. "For one thing, there's only one tower. If there had been a guardian, we would have encountered them already. And on top of that, this place is a death trap. Even if it needed a guardian, with Xana on the loose I doubted they lasted long."

"Oh, I guess so," Odd conceded, his tail dragging along the floor dejectedly. Aelita felt the same. Just the thought of another being like her and Odd having died at the hands of Xana was enough to make her want to cry. Soon enough, however, the two made it to the end of the corridor. The sight they saw was nothing less than stunning. Surrounding what Aelita could only presume to be the core of Carthage was a massive sphere of metal, etched with lines.

"What are those for?" Odd asked, pointing towards the mysterious trenches. Before Aelita could give the answer, it presented itself to them in the form of a massive lift-like platform flying past them from below.

"Three guesses," Aelita quipped, as she inclined her head to follow the elevator-like device. Odd crouched down on the edge and looked down.

"Better get ready, Aelita," he announced. Aelita gave him a questioning look.

"Why-?" She began, but Odd cut her off by grabbing her hand in his paw and jumping off the platform, dragging Aelita along with her.

"Because our ride's coming!" Odd shouted gleefully even as Aelita screamed in shock at being pulled off the ledge. Her scream was cut off by the impact of her legs against the same lift-like system that had passed by not to long ago. She glared at Odd before punching him on the shoulder.

"Odd!" She yelled, unsure what else to say as her shock and annoyance made itself known.

"What?" Odd shrugged, rubbing his shoulder but grinning all the same. "You said this was a way out. Besides, don't you want to explore a bit?"

"Not this place," she muttered. "And not with you having so few life-points left."

"Eh, you worry too much," Odd replied as the lift came to a gradual stop, and the two stepped off the platform and onto what seemed to operate as a gangplank for the elevator.

"You think I worry too much?" Aelita shot over her shoulder as she walked towards an opening on the edge of Carthage. "Then you haven't really met Jeremy yet."

"Well, I guess you can't always choose your friends," Odd said, although Aelita was unsure if he was talking to her or himself, something that had appeared to be a habit for the boy. He fell silent as he came upon the sight that Aelita had already stopped to stare at. Outside of Carthage there was yet another sphere, but this sphere was made up of hundreds if not thousands of glowing blue panels of code. Aelita and Odd stared at the sight silently for a while longer.

"Well, it's certainly a way out," Aelita broke the silence in a small voice. I'm just not sure how useful that is for us."

"What is this place?" Odd asked as he and Aelita began to walk further out onto the platform, something of interest catching Aelita's eyes.

"I don't know," Aelita replied before pointing out a small interface on the end of the platform. "But that might."

* * *

Jeremy frantically typed in the access code to the computer lab's door. Once open, Jeremy rushed through the entrance with a quite groggy William not far behind.

"William, you should head down to the scanner room," Jeremy ordered as he input the commands necessary to initiate a connection to Aelita. "That way you can get to Carthage as soon as possible."

"Whatever you say Jeremy," William mumbled, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. He turned to walk towards the elevator but the sound of an interface popping up and Aelita's voice stopped him.

"Jeremy, it's about time!" Aelita exclaimed, although she seemed to be preoccupied with something.

"Aelita, I'm sending William to help you, okay?" Jeremy informed the girl as William began to head towards the elevator once more, a bit more awake than previously.

"That's not necessary, Jeremy," Aelita informed the boys, stopping William in his tracks. The older boy instead decided to walk over to what had been Aelita's chair and collapse into it wearily. From there he could at least hear the conversation, and unlike Jeremy he was not as accustomed to getting so little sleep.

"What do you mean, Aelita?" Jeremy asked confused. "I thought you said you were in Carthage and Odd was hurt. And why can't I access anything from my end? It's like everything's frozen up!"

"That might be my fault," Aelita admitted, earning a raised eyebrow from Jeremy. "Odd and I are on the edge of Carthage - outside of the metal dome. We found an interface of some sort. I'm currently using it to access some data. It may be causing some interference."

"Let me see," Jeremy hummed as he activated a few more consoles. "You're right. It _is_ causing interference. Have you found anything of interest yet?"

* * *

"More than interesting," Aelita replied, looking up to the boy. "I've hit the...jackpot, is it? This interface is tied directly into Carthage - and there's more."

"What is it?" Jeremy asked, curiosity all to obvious in his voice.

"It has access to Xana's program," Aelita told Jeremy triumphantly. "Jeremy, Carthage is where Xana lives!"

"What!?" Jeremy exclaimed in shock. Aelita could just sense the gears turning in his head. "With the information we could get from this we might be able to repair the superscan - maybe even find a way to cure your virus!"

"My thoughts exactly," Aelita replied but before she could continue, Odd interrupted.

"Um, hate to break up the moment, but some weird things are going on over here," he announced nervously. Aelita turned to see what he was talking about. She gasped when she caught sight of _somethings_ forming on the celestial sphere that surrounded Carthage.

"I'm picking up some anomalous readings," Jeremy informed her from above. "I don't think Xana likes you looking through his things. Deactivate the interface and I'll materialize the overwing. I think I've found a way for you to exit Carthage from where you are now."

"Alright, Jeremy," Aelita replied as she shut down the interface. "Done."

"Here's the overwing," Jeremy announced as the vehicle materialized alongside the metallic walkway.

"And not a moment too soon," Odd exclaimed, pointing towards the distortions in the digital barrier. They now began to burst open as creatures resembling mantas burst forth from within. The monsters let out long, echoing screeches when they caught sight of Aelita and Odd.

"Time to go!" Aelita declared as she hopped onto the overwing before motioning to Odd to do the same. "Hop on!"

Odd quickly jumped behind Aelita, barely avoiding a energy bolt that had been shot from the mouth of one of the mantas. Holding tightly to her waist to avoid falling, Odd glanced back at the creatures as Aelita flew the overwing away from the platform.

"Where to next, Jeremy," Aelita asked her friend. "We won't be able to avoid these things for long."

* * *

"Okay, listen carefully," Jeremy instructed, leaning towards the computer interface. "There should be a tunnel-like formation to your left. I'm going to deactivate the data stream entering it so you can instead. If I'm correct, it should lead to a way tower on Lyoko."

"And if your not?" Came Odd's voice from the comm system.

"If I'm not then you might end up in the Ice Zone or somewhere else entirely," Jeremy replied before adding confidently. "But I'm sure I'm right."

"Glad one of use is," Jeremy heard Odd mumble. Jeremy quickly input the commands for deactivating the data stream.

"Alright, the tunnel is clear!" Jeremy announced, nervously watching as the new monsters attempted to destroy the overwing. "You're home free!"

"I see it! Approaching now," Aelita announced. Jeremy watched as Odd and Aelita entered the tunnel and disappeared from his screens as they exited Carthage. A small part of him noted with interest that the monsters had not followed them through.

"Aelita, can you hear me?" Jeremy asked nervously. Although he was sure he had sent them to Lyoko, well, let's just say he had made mistakes before. That is why he let out a breath he had not realized he was holding when Aelita's voice came through the comm.

"Yes, I can. We're alright, Jeremy," Aelita assured him. "We're on Lyoko, just like you said. We're both resting up in the way tower for the moment."

"I gotta admit, Einstein," Odd's voice followed Aelita's. "You did a good job."

"Thanks, Odd," Jeremy asked, feeling strangely gratified by the hybrid's compliment. "You two should probably stay on Lyoko, but for now the worst of it is over."

"Does that mean we can go back to bed?" William's voice drifted from off to the side. Jeremy glanced over, slightly surprised. He had forgotten William had accompanied him to the factory.

"Yes, William," Jeremy confirmed with a small smile. "We can go back to bed."

_"Hiyaah!" The samurai cried in exertion as he sliced his katana through the head of the walker. After the first attack by one of the creatures had interrupted him blocking the last passage, the samurai had begun to work on the task alone. Now at least he was joined by his clones, whom he had summoned in the battle with this second walker. With the creature now vanquished the samurai signaled for one of his clones to head towards the other blocked pass in order to serve as lookout. Once his duplicate had rushed away, the warrior turned to the other. "Alright, we have work to do," the samurai stated even as he simultaneously signaled his instructions to the clone. Moving in unison, the two samurai made short work of the already damaged pillar of rock. Within minutes the massive column crashed to the desert sand, impacting slightly with its counterpart that had already been collapsed previously by the warrior. Sheathing his sword in satisfaction, the samurai nodded to himself grimly. Now at least the walkers, iron spheres, and bloks would not be able to pass. Still, the warrior could not help but wonder how long he would be able to hold out against the swarms of roaches, hornets, and krabs that were sure to come._

_The geisha stood on a ledge overlooking the tower of what she had come to call the Three-Line Peaks. She called them such because they were dominated by three mountains that each had large land bridges extending from them. But that was hardly on her mind as she gazed down upon the two executioners that guarded the tower. The menacing spider-like creatures stood stoically in front of the massive structure, only moving to occasionally survey the surroundings. There was only one way the geisha would be able to defeat them. Bracing herself, the geisha whipped out her fans, extending them so that they were in nearly complete circles. Narrowing her eyes, she leapt from the ledge and hurled down feet-first towards the monsters below. Spinning rapidly around and around in a complex pattern, the geisha no doubt looked not unlike a whirling dervish to the rest of the world. The executioners spotted her with a pair of menacing screeches and began to open fire. The energy bolts were deflected by the girls' fans or avoided altogether by her whirling form. At last she landed on the ground, knees bent to absorb her impact even as she continued to spin and deflect the monsters' attacks. Building up her momentum, the geisha leaped up into the air, simultaneously sending her tessen fans flying. The sharpened blades met their marks as they sliced through the heads of each executioner. Catching her fans with a flourish, the geisha came to a stop and watched as the monsters exploded into pixels before disintegrating entirely._

**Post Story Author's Note: Hope you enjoyed this chapter. Please review, I welcome any types from flames to critiques to whatever. Just keep the input coming. Also, so far I have a suggestion for using a kasari-gama as Hiroki's weapon. Others I am considering are naginata or kama. So now's your chance to provide your input on this. You have plenty of time, though, so don't worry - I'm not expecting Hiroki for about ten chapters (a long time I know but I have to get through their summer break before Hiroki moves up to Kadic). So please, I'd love to hear your opinions on this or my story in general. Thanks in advance for the reviews, and until next time readers, where a secret will be revealed about the virtual worlds of Lyoko, Carthage, and the Ice Zone.  
**


	13. Chapter 13

**Author's Note: Thanks for all the reviews! I got five reviews for last chapter (a record amount so far)! And naturally with so many reviews there was bound to be a few questions. Addressing the question of Aelita's wings and William's super-smoke, yes they will be present, except William won't be the one with the super-smoke (apologies William). But fear not, it shall be in here. So without further ado, I hope you enjoy!  
**

**Now on with the story...**

_The samurai gazed out wearily over the Northern Wastes, thoughts turned nostalgically towards what had been his Oasis. Those were what the samurai considered the 'good old days'. Whatever a day really was. Back before the monsters had begun to swarm over his desert. Looking back down to his new home the samurai could easily see nearly the entirety of the Northern Wastes thanks to his position on the highest mesa in the scattered plateaus. What he saw of both his old and current homes was indeed sobering. For as far as he could see in the desert small sandstorms erupted and disappeared. Except they were no sandstorms. They were entire armies of walkers, bloks, and iron spheres that had been reduced to patrolling the desert, no longer having a route for which to attack him. But then the krabs, roaches, and hornets had been doing a good enough job. The Northern Wastes were now pitted and scarred. Once he had been able to block off access to his tower for the more dangerous monsters, the samurai had on occasion performed surgical or scouting strikes against the monsters. The result was a landscape scarred and pitted by the dark scorches of laser burns. Entire mountains and canyons had even been reduced to rubble. Most of this was the work of walkers and iron spheres of course, but the samurai and his clones had not been very light on the landscape either. Wherever they could they collapsed stone pillars and caused rock slides to either destroy monsters or block them. All this was in the hope that one day the monsters would be driven out of the Northern Wastes and perhaps give up on their endeavor to destroy him. Deep in his heart, though, the samurai knew that the monsters would never give up unless something changed. Yet he had hope for some reason. He knew not why but he felt as if this was just the calm before the storm. He felt, for reasons beyond him, that something was coming. And for the present the samurai could only wish that what he felt was coming was on his side. And preferably it would come with a sword in hand._

_The geisha pressed her fingers to her temples, her mind slowly recovering from the process of levitating herself to the upper platform. While she was recovering, the geisha thought of what she had learned so far. The towers were all connected somehow - the geisha could only presume through the mass of vines that ran throughout the mountains. How these strange plants managed to accomplish this was beyond her but she did know something else. The towers were tools. Built by whom she did not yet know. But they were built by someone. Of that fact she was sure of. Unfortunately the towers had so far not yielded any useful information concerning their creator, or creators be it the case. As it was, the geisha could barely navigate through the 'interface', as it was called, of a tower. With time and effort, though, the geisha was sure she could work out more of the 'commands' that allowed her manipulate the towers. Or rather, to put it into proper terms, to manipulate the 'data' of the towers. The word was a strange one, unlike any she had heard before. Data certainly meant something to her - like it was familiar. Yet at the same time it was as if what her mind used to define it was beyond her understanding. Or perhaps it was beyond her memory. By now the geisha had discovered that she had been placed here. For what purpose she did not know. But she had either been created beforehand or found elsewhere. The buzzing in her mind faded as the mental stress of her feat died down. With that distraction aside, the geisha turned her attention to the console before her._

Jeremy, William, and Aelita - or rather Aelita's spectral projection - were sitting at their customary table currently engaged in some small talk. Or rather Aelita and William were, as Jeremy appeared to be deep in thought.

"Well, at least I don't have to get up to have seconds," William commented as he commandeered a chicken wing from Aelita's plate. The girl gave it her best try everyday to avoid the food line so as not to waste any food - she had read plenty about the less fortunate people of this world via the Internet, and taking food just for show gave her a guilty feeling. That being said, she could not always avoid the exceptionally watchful eye of Rosa, Kadic's cafeteria overseer.

"Aelita," the large lunch lady had said on more than one occasion. "I don't know how you manage to skip meals so much, but I hardly see you at breakfast, let alone eating it. And as for supper, well don't get me started on _that_! You need to get some meat on your bones before you wither away into a skeleton!"

And with that said, the cafeteria lady would proceed to pile an extra helping onto Aelita's plate much to the chagrin of the pinkette. She still had to wonder why Rosa thought her thin. She had made sure to portray her specter as a near image of herself. And being just a program, Aelita knew objectively that she was around the average size. Then again, perhaps Rosa had grown up in a place where the average size was somewhat larger. But if that were the case, then why wasn't anyone else was on Rosa's proverbial 'hit-list' of extra helpings (other than Jeremy, of course, whom most everyone regarded as the skinniest, if not sickliest, student in Kadic). In the end, the pinkette decided that it was probably her act of avoiding meals, other than lunch, altogether that brought this on her. Aelita looked over to Jeremy, who, unsurprisingly, had barely touched his food. The all too familiar frown of deep thinking was currently plastered on his face.

"Jeremy," Aelita asked, getting the boy's attention as he raised his head to look at her. "Is something wrong?"

"Yea," William put in as he helped himself to another part of Aelita's meal. Fortunately he seemed to have a larger appetite today than usual. "You've been really quiet recently. Well, more quiet than normal."

"Huh, have I?" Jeremy asked, his voice bearing the tone of one distracted. Though Aelita got the distinct feeling that _they_ were the distraction to Jeremy's thoughts and not the other way around. "I guess I just have a lot on my mind."

"That's an understatement," Aelita replied dryly, her tone managing to finally pull Jeremy's attention to her. "You've been like this ever since Odd and I came back from Carthage, so I'm guessing that has something to do with whatever's wrong."

"Nothing's wrong," Jeremy protested as he shook his head vigorously before continuing more softly. "But you're right about one thing. It does have to do with your visit to Carthage with Odd."

"Look," Aelita began, anger seeping into her voice slightly. She was starting to get a little more than annoyed by her friend's obvious jealousy. The fact he wouldn't even admit it made it all the more frustrating. "If this is about, Odd, it wasn't his fault we ended up on Carthage. In fact-"

To her surprise, Jeremy interrupted her with a shake of his head. The interruption wasn't the surprising part, of course, but what the boy said next was.

"No, it's not about Odd," Jeremy replied, a ponderous expression making its way over his face once more. William and Aelita exchanged a confused look. Usually Aelita mentioning Odd would induce more of a reaction from Jeremy, be it vague annoyance or barely concealed jealousy. But this...this time it was like Jeremy had only just barely registered that the hybrid's name had been spoken.

"Jeremy," Aelita grew serious. "What's this all about?"

But Jeremy just shook his head again. "Nothing you need to worry about for now," he assured her, shaking his head once more. Aelita was about to respond that such a statement usually implied they _needed_ to worry about it when Jeremy stood up suddenly from the table. "I don't want to jump to any conclusions," he continued hesitantly. "Hopefully, I'll find out all I need to know when we deactivate and unlock the activated tower in the Ice Zone." And with that Jeremy walked off, presumably to his morning math class, leaving a very confused, and not a little concerned, Aelita and William behind.

"What was that all about?" William asked, genuine curiosity in his voice. Aelita shook her head in reply.

"I have no idea," was all she said in response as she gazed off into the distance, watching as Jeremy exited the cafeteria and made his way to class.

* * *

"Odd! Odd, are you here?" Aelita called out as she wandered through the South-West Forest. Evidently her suggestion to the hybrid earlier that day to remain in her forest had fallen by the wayside. She was about to shout again when a familiar hum and a voice came from above her.

"No need to shout so loud, princess," Odd called from above as her hovered on the overboard. Aelita rolled her eyes at the feline's nickname for her. As soon as Odd had heard William's comparison of Aelita to a sort of 'princess of Lyoko', Odd had come up with the nickname. In fact, the name had slipped out of his mouth so quickly after that little talk, that Aelita sometimes wondered if his brain had even come up with it at all or if his tongue had been the one solely responsible. Either way, the nickname had been picked up in rapid succession by William and even Jeremy, much to Aelita's surprise. Knowing there was no fighting it, Aelita forwent scolding Odd about the nickname and instead decided to scold him on leaving the forest near her tower. Heavens knows she was frustrated enough with _that_.

"Odd, what did I tell you about staying near the tower?"

"Uh, you said that I could go as far away as I wanted?" Odd began hopefully, but a glare from Aelita quickly prompted the boy to correct his statement. "As long as I could see your tower."

"Exactly," Aelita snapped, gesturing in the direction of the tower. "And can we see it?"

"Well...," Odd began hesitantly, unknowingly digging a hole deeper for himself with Aelita just with his tone. "I don't know about you, but I can see the tower from up here." Once he was on that track he continued, unaware of how lucky he was not being within arm's length of the virtual elf. "And I've been up this high with the overboard the whole time, so I figured it was cool."

"No, Odd, it was definitely _not_ cool!" Aelita nearly shouted before actually doing so. "I told you to stay nearby for a reason! Not only so I wouldn't have to go searching around the _whole_ of Lyoko just to find you, but also for your safety! What if you had run into some of Xana's monsters!" At this point Aelita's anger was fueled less by her fear for the boy, having now found him, and was sustained more by her annoyance of having to find him in the first place. "This isn't the Ice Zone! This is Lyoko!"

"Ah, don't worry," Odd waved off casually. It seemed Aelita's anger could not properly ascend to where the feline now sat somewhat casually, if not carefree, on the overboard. Either that, or he was just dense. "I survived fine on my own in the Ice Zone. Besides, what dangers does Lyoko have that the Ice Zone doesn't?"

A dangerous gleam entered Aelita's eyes as she replied just loud enough for Odd to hear. "Falling rocks." Odd glanced at her, puzzled for a moment, before realizing with a sense of dread that he heard a single, vibrant note slicing through the air. He and William had often joked that Aelita would attack them with angry musical notes if they got on her bad side. Needless to say, as a sizable rock appeared over the front of the overboard, the joke was not so funny now. With a shout of surprise, Odd was shot through the air as the rock dropped onto the front of the overboard. His shout intensified before being cut off by the trunk of a tree. The hybrid slowly slide down the tree, claws leaving scratch marks on the bark.

"What was that for!?" Odd asked angrily as he twisted his head to look at Aelita, who was now standing in the clearing with a satisfied smirk on her face and leaning casually on the overboard.

"That," Aelita replied matter-of-factually, most of her anger released in the act of catapulting Odd into a tree, "was for making me search _half_ of _Lyoko_ looking for you. Jeremy and William are probably almost to the factory - and we're already supposed to be at the tower near the Frozen Ocean in case you've forgotten."

"Oh yeah," Odd rubbed his neck sheepishly. "I guess I had kinda forgotten about that."

"Obviously," Aelita replied as she tossed the overboard to the ground before leaping onto it. "Now hop on."

Evidently knowing it was better not to argue with the girl - being thrown into a tree will have that effect on a person - Odd quickly followed in suit, barely managing to grab onto Aelita before he was almost flung off the vehicle from the sudden acceleration. Determined not to keep William and Jeremy waiting, Aelita sped threw Lyoko, swerving around tree after tree, not unlike how Odd did when he was flying the overboard just for fun.

"Hey, watch out!" Odd cried as they nearly impacted with a tree. "Who taught you how to fly anyways?"

"You did, Odd," Aelita chided smoothly. Well, for the most part that was true. Even before Xana's attack a couple of months ago, Aelita had always preferred the overwing. It wasn't until Odd started to take a liking to the overboard that Aelita did as well.

"Oh, right," Odd replied, the irony of the situation not lost on him. "Do me a favor and remind me to never make you angry again."

"You mean my getting angry at you wasn't enough?" Aelita asked, glancing briefly at the hybrid with a side smile.

"Eh, you know," Odd replied weakly, trying to make up some lost ground. "Better be safe than sorry, right?"

* * *

Jeremy and William hurried across the bridge to the factory. William glanced over to his younger friend, whose rapid pace allowed him for once to match William's longer strides.

"You're in a hurry today," William noted. Jeremy glance over to him, distracted as ever.

"Aelita and Odd are probably already at the Frozen Ocean tower by now,"Jeremy replied automatically, not really paying too much attention to the outside world. "Besides, unlocking this activated tower could answer a lot of questions."

"Answer some questions, huh?" William commented dryly. "Might be difficult considering Aelita and I don't even know what those questions are."

"Don't worry," Jeremy assured his older friend as they swung down to the factory floor. "Regardless of how the mission turns out today, I'll bring you guys up to speed. I'd just prefer to check some of my facts first. And deactivating and unlocking that activated tower is the best way to do it right now short of going to Carthage. And that's a risk I'd rather not take for the time being."

"Alright, fair enough," William conceded, pressing the open button on the elevator's console. "But what do you mean by 'regardless of how the mission turns out today'? You think we won't be able to deactivate the tower or something?"

"No, it's not that," Jeremy shook his head as the elevator jerked downwards. "I'm sure you can deactivate the tower - well, Aelita can anyways. What I'm not sure of is if you can _get_ to the tower. From what I've heard of the blizzards in the Ice Zone from Odd and Aelita...well, their pretty nasty pieces of work."

"You make them sound like they were created," William said, raising an eyebrow. Jeremy shrugged.

"Well, yeah, they were created. I mean it is a virtual reality after all."

"Oh, yeah, I suppose your right," William frowned slightly in thought. "I guess I had kinda forgotten that it was all programmed by someone."

"Only I think the more exact description of the creator of the snowstorms would be _something_," Jeremy added, the tone in his voice making it very clear who he thought was responsible.

"Xana?" William asked for confirmation as the elevator ground to a halt.

"Xana," Jeremy replied as he absentmindedly put in the access code. "I think Xana was using those blizzards to either stop Odd from interfering during his attacks or eliminate him by making use of the excess energy from the activated tower that wasn't directed into his attacks. Although knowing Xana, perhaps both are true."

"He can certainly multitask," William commented as Jeremy walked out of the elevator. "I'll head down to the scanner room. No sense in keeping Aelita and Odd waiting."

"Okay, I'll start up the connection and transfer process," Jeremy replied as he sat down in front of the supercomputer's console and began typing in a string of codes. William, meanwhile, pressed the descent button on the elevator and began his trip to the scanners.

* * *

William appeared in the air near the tower that loomed over the Frozen Ocean. Landing smoothly on the ground, one hand stretched out to stop himself from colliding with the ice, William stood up, placing Zweihänder on his shoulder as he looked around for any sign of Odd or Aelita.

"Where-?" He began to mutter to himself. His question was answered before he could finish it by the sound of the wall of the tower rippling behind him and the familiar hum of the overboard. That and Odd's yell that bordered somewhere between shock and indignation pretty much gave it away.

"Hey, you wanna warn me next time you do that?"

"You wanna tell me where you're going next time you want to wander around Lyoko?" Aelita's voice came back in a slightly teasing, slightly scathing question. William smirked up at the two as they continued to argue. William could swear a day was unable to go by before those two would start bickering like siblings. Which they were in a manner of speaking he supposed.

"What's it about this time?" William called to them as Aelita steered the overboard down towards the dopplesoldner. Aelita gave a frustrated wave in Odd's direction.

"This dork decided to go gallivanting around Lyoko, so I had to spend that whole time walking around half of it just to find him!" She exclaimed in exasperation before adding almost in a mutter. "It didn't help that he'd bugged up the overbike and the overwing when he materialized the overboard."

"Ah, I was wondering what had happened to those," Jeremy's voice came from above, the distracted tone in his voice once again present. "Perhaps it wasn't the best idea to tell Odd how to materialize a vehicle."

"Hey, how was I supposed to know I'd accidentally bugged up the other two?" Odd protested indignantly. "After all, the overboard worked fine."

"Does that mean we'll have to go to the activated tower on foot, Jeremy," William asked. He received a distracted grunt as a reply. William waited a few moments before saying, "Jeremy?"

"Huh? Oh, no, you'll still have the vehicles," Jeremy spoke up, keys clacking in the background. "I'll just need to debug them real quick. I have that debugger program somewhere around here..."

"Hey, is it just me or is Einstein a little out of it today?" Odd whispered confidentially to William.

"He's got some things on his mind," William replied with a shrug as he glanced at the hybrid who was currently wearing a knowing expression on his face.

"Let me guess," Odd said, feigning concentration as he closed his eyes and pressed a finger from each paw to his temples. "He's not telling you guys anything about it?"

"That's an understatement," William replied. He opened his mouth to say more when Aelita interrupted him.

"Alright, boys, no time to waste," she announced, shooting a accusatory glance at Odd who shrugged sheepishly in response. "Hop on, William," Aelita ordered, gesturing to the spot behind her on the overboard. "We should get to the edge of the Blizzard Plateau by the time Jeremy's finished debugging the other vehicles."

"Hey, what about me?" Odd asked, noticing there would be no room for him if William was on the overboard with Aelita. William strapped Zweihänder to his back and gave Aelita a curious glance as he stepped onto the overboard.

"Well, Odd," Aelita smiled sweetly, though William could tell by her voice that she was still annoyed with Odd. She must have spent a _long_ time looking for the feline. "You're always boasting about how fast you are, so it only makes sense that _we_ take the overboard. I'm sure you can keep up."

With that Aelita sped off on the overbike, William holding tightly onto her shoulders as he turned to look at her.

"Remind me never to get on your bad side," he chuckled. Aelita gave him a laughing look.

"You mean you need a reminder?" She smirked slightly. William glanced back at Odd, who was currently doing his best to keep up with them, all the while shouting about how unreasonable Aelita was being.

"No, I guess not," William laughed.

* * *

Jeremy's hands flew over the keyboard as he simultaneously ran the debugging program, a minor inconvenience, while also attempting to chart out the paths of the virtual blizzards that moved throughout the aptly name Blizzard Plateaus. That was one of the discoveries Jeremy had made that could prove useful. The plateau was not just covered in a singular blizzard but rather in a multitude of smaller ones that moved in a pattern. If William, Odd, and Aelita were on their own in the Ice Zone then they would most likely have had to remain at a distance to memorize the paths of the individual snowstorms. Fortunately, they had him to help them out. All they would have to do would be to follow Jeremy's instructions as he led them through the region. Glancing over briefly and noting that the debugging sequence had finished and his friends had reached the edge of the Blizzard Plateaus, Jeremy moved the mouthpiece of his headpiece closer and spoke into it.

"Alright guys, I'm sending you the overwing and overbike now," Jeremy announced as he input the necessary commands while continuing. "You're going to have to follow my instructions very carefully. The Blizzard Plateaus aren't covered by one storm but multiple storms. That means that there are calm spots. I'm going to guide you through them until you reach the tower."

"Alright, Jeremy," Aelita replied as her symbol indicated she had boarded the overwing while William and Odd boarded the overbike and overboard, respectively. "We're ready."

"Alright, then," Jeremy let out a nervous breath as he watched the map in front of him intensely. "You will need to enter the Blizzard Plateaus in five seconds. Starting now."

* * *

It was some time later that the Lyoko Wanderers had reached the center of the Blizzard Plateaus.

"_There should be...to...clear...left,_" Jeremy's voice crackled over the comm system. For most of the mission so far the comm system had been working perfectly, but now the Lyoko Wanderers were deep into the Blizzard Plateaus. Unfortunately, they were only half way to their goal.

"There's a clearing to the left, go!" Aelita interpreted quickly, swinging around the overwing with William and Odd following swiftly behind on their own vehicles. "Jeremy, you're breaking up again! You'll need to recalibrate the comm system."

A few incomprehensible crackling noises were all that replied to Aelita, but the virtual elf was sure that Jeremy had received the message, if only from how static-filled her reply most certainly had been. Fortunately the two geniuses had come to a silent agreement. Aelita would lead the group in the direction that seemed the best and, unless that direction was wrong, Jeremy would say nothing.

"So what happens if the comm gives out completely?" Odd asked nervously. Aelita could understand his anxiety, having been trapped in one of these storms herself. Unlike William, if they were devirtualized it would be permanent.

"Then we'll have to go back," William replied for Aelita, a shared glance between the two showing that William was concerned as well for her and Odd's safety.

"Agreed," Aelita replied, before pursing her lips slightly. While the comm was down she might as well ask. "William, any idea of what's gotten into Jeremy?"

"Your guess is as good as mine," William replied with a shrug. "I wasn't able to get much out of him on the way to the factory. He said he would tell us what's going on after the mission though."

"What if we don't complete the mission? Then what," asked Odd as he drew level alongside William and Aelita. Unlike their previous missions, Odd was sticking close by the rest of them.

"He said he would tell us, whether we succeed or fail," William replied grimly. Aelita shared his feelings. Something was obviously bothering Jeremy and had been for a long time. Aelita wished he would have at least told _her_ about it. A sudden crackling came through the comm system followed by a voice that signaled that communications were repaired.

"Alright guys, I've got the comm back up," Jeremy reported, somewhat redundantly as it were. "You've got a huge ice storm headed your way from the south."

"I see it," Aelita replied as she glanced in said direction. "Which way now?"

"Head north-east, that should take you on a path that will lead you to the tower," Jeremy instructed.

"Should," Odd muttered under his breath, obviously once more forgetting Jeremy could hear everything he said. "That's comforting."

"You know, Odd," Jeremy retorted from above, a trace of irritation in his voice, almost a welcome relief from his distracted tone of late. "A little more faith would be appreciated."

"Oh, yes, of course," Odd rolled his eyes despite having started slightly at Jeremy's response to his muttered statement. "We must all have faith in the mighty Jeremy, for he watches us from the skies and holds the very fabric of our world together!" Aelita and William rolled their eyes and suppressed laughter as the feline continued ridiculous speech. "Look upon his works, ye mighty, and despair!"

* * *

Jeremy rolled his eyes as Odd _finally_ finished his grandiose little speech.

"You done yet, Odd?" Jeremy asked irritably. Unfortunately this seemed to encourage Odd.

"Well, oh great and mighty Jeremy, if you wish I can say more to espouse your awesome and terrible power," Odd ranted playfully. Jeremy sighed to himself, glancing at the screen as he laid his head on his hands, almost hoping for a sudden ice storm to appear so that he could shut Odd up with some instructions. Just goes to show you though, there's never a blizzard around when you need one.

"Please don't, Odd," Jeremy replied wearily. Fortunately for him, Aelita and William were on his side.

"Yeah, seriously, we already get enough of that from you about _you_," William said before Aelita added teasingly.

"We don't need you to sing praises for two people."

"Eh, if you say so, but you don't know what you're missing out on," Odd replied nonchalantly, albeit with plenty of humor in his voice. Jeremy certainly hoped he would _never_ know what he was missing out on. Fortunately a series of warnings on his screen allowed him to interrupt Odd before he could continue.

"Guys, I'm picking up a megatank and six hornets closing in on your position!" Jeremy announced urgently, voice changing from annoyed to worried in an instant. "They're coming out of the blizzard right behind you!"

* * *

Odd whirled around with his overboard as soon as he heard Jeremy's warning. He banked so hard, in fact, that for a few seconds he was nearly parallel with the ground. All that time alone in the Ice Zone had sharpened his reflexes. That, added in with his jumpiness at being surrounded by so many snow storms, was the reason he let out a volley of laser arrows as soon as the first wazp emerged from the blizzard behind them. The first trio of the monsters quickly met their demise while the other group of wazps split up and scattered so as to render themselves less of a concentrated target. Odd heard a familiar revving from beneath him and to his side. Glancing over, Odd caught sight of William on his overbike.

"I'll take care of the wazps," Odd shouted as he leaned forward and accelerated the overboard skyward. "You handle the megatank!"

With that the two boys separated, one remaining to fight the battle on the ground and the other soaring upwards to fight the battle in the sky. Odd bobbed and weaved as he avoided the laser fire of the wazps. Catching an opening, Odd let out another volley of arrows at a nearby wazp, shattering it into pieces. The remaining wazps were quick to unleash their own barrages at the feline. Twisting his body and pivoting the overboard, Odd was able to dodge one of the laser bolts, causing it to fly right into one of the wazps. He was not so lucky in avoiding the other energy bolt and it impacted against his shoulder.

"Alright, it's just you and me," Odd announced to the sole remaining wazp, which on top of having inadvertently destroyed its companion was now face to face with a quite, from its point of view, lethal feline.

* * *

William swerved to the right as a wave of crimson energy emanated from the megatank. Too late though did he realize that he wasn't the target as he heard Aelita's cry of shock behind him. Swerving the overbike to a grinding halt, William turned in his seat to assess the situation. The dopplesoldner sighed in relief as he saw that it had been the overwing and not Aelita that had been hit. Her cry of panic had simply come from her vehicle disappearing out from under her feet and not from her devirtualization. William lacked further time to ensure the virtual elf's well-being as he barely managed to avoid a second wave of energy shot from the megatank. Focusing on the metallic monster, William swerved right and left to avoid the creature's attacks before gunning the overbike forward and, using the sudden bolt of speed, leaping off the vehicle towards the megatank. Before the monster had time to react William had plunged Zweihänder into the megatank's core. Wrenching the massive blade out of the monster, William leaped backwards and smirked in satisfaction as the megatank exploded into shards of metal. Glancing up, William could see that Odd's fight with the hornets had gone similarly and there were no more monsters left. He gave a thumbs up to Odd and opened his mouth to call out to the hybrid but was stopped short of doing so as Odd's face changed from one of triumph to that of horror. William turned around just in time to see the storm before it engulfed him.

* * *

Aelita watched in terror as William was engulfed by the oncoming blizzard. Her fear intensified tenfold when Odd dove into the snow storm after the raven-haired boy.

"Odd!" Aelita shouted out too late. Apparently Odd had forgotten that if William were to be devirtualized, he would be alright. That is why Aelita was doubly relieved when both of them emerged from the storm on the overboard. Odd flew over to where Aelita was standing with William draped over the front of the overboard. He reached her just in time as the board-like vehicle flickered and stuttered before devirtualizing completely, leaving Odd and William to tumble to the ground. Odd was quick to get to his feet but William lay on the ground moaning slightly. Having been caught in one of the ice storms before, Aelita could sympathize.

"William, are you alright?" Aelita asked the boy gently as she rushed over to his side and knelt down to help the boy up. William leaned heavily on Aelita's shoulders until the pinkette was partially relieved from the burden by Odd, who slung William's other arm around his shoulders.

"I'm fine, really," William mumbled. But it was clear that he was not. Unused to having been exposed to the cutting ice of the snow storms, William was nowhere near as resilient as Odd was.

"Yeah, and I'm a giant pink kankrelat," Odd quipped as he shot a glance over his shoulder to gauge the distance of the oncoming storm before surveying their surroundings. "We need to find shelter." He said before pointing off into the distance with his free paw. "Over there!"

The feline was pointing towards an outcropping of ice that appeared to have a small cave within. The trio made their way over to the crystalline formation, William finally regaining enough motor control to walk again about half way there. With the wind whipping up behind them, the small group of friends barely managed to make it inside the ice cave before the storm hit.

* * *

Jeremy collapse back into his chair with a sigh of relief. He had remained silent over the course of the last few tense seconds, knowing he would probably do more harm than good by shouting out warnings and commands. He watched relieved as the dots that represented his friends moved deeper into what Jeremy could only presume was an ice cave of some sort by his friends' conversation. Not for the first time, Jeremy wished that the mapping system of Lyoko was a bit more detailed. Ah well, he shrugged. It was better than nothing.

"You guys okay?" Jeremy asked, leaning forward again once more. William and Odd barely had any life-points left. Even Aelita had lost some along the way, either from falling to the ground from the overwing or perhaps from the blizzard they had so narrowly avoided.

"As well as can be expected," Aelita's voice replied, the only voice that seemed unmarred by weariness. "What's our status?"

"Not good, we're going to have to abort the mission," Jeremy reported grimly. "William only has ten life-points left, and Odd doesn't have much better at thirty."

"Then I guess we'll have to wait out the storm," Aelita sighed dejectedly. Jeremy understood how she felt. They had come all this way and almost reached the tower but had to turn back. To say it was frustrating would be an understatement. Two sudden bleeps on Jeremy's screen informed the boy that the return trip was not going to be smooth.

"Guys, I'm picking up two monster signals, tarantulas," Jeremy informed them. "They're headed towards your position!"

"Relax, Einstein," Odd assured the young genius wearily. "There's no way those overgrown spiders are gettin' in here."

"That's not what I'm worried about, Odd," Jeremy shook his head, despite the fact that there was no one around to see it. "If they move to block the ice cave, you'll be trapped in there."

"Then we'll just have to make sure that doesn't happen," William declared tiredly, determination ringing in his voice nonetheless. "Can you bring us up a vehicle?"

Jeremy typed some commands into the keyboard. "Yeah, but only one," Jeremy reported. "What are you thinking?"

"I'll distract the tarantula's since I'm in no danger," William began, Jeremy guessed that the older boy had added the redundant 'in no danger' part for Odd's benefit as the feline frequently forgot that fact. "Meanwhile, Odd'll take Aelita out on the overboard. It's one of the fastest vehicles we have and Odd's a natural with it."

For once Odd didn't go on a boasting spree. Apparently the gravity of the situation was fully capable of impressing itself onto him. Jeremy thought about William's plan for a moment before glancing back to the monitor and nodding to himself. "Alright, then," Jeremy replied finally. "One overboard coming up. I'll watch the storm paths and tell you when to go, Odd."

"Will do, Jeremy," Odd affirmed as Jeremy watched as the symbols on the screen indicated that Odd and Aelita had boarded the vehicle, while William moved closer to the exit.

"Alright," Jeremy muttered to himself nervously, his heart racing as he watched the blizzard slowly move past and the tarantulas closing in on his friends' position. "No time like the present."

* * *

Aelita held on tightly to Odd, her arms wrapped about his waist as the hybrid stood tense on the overboard, wound up and ready to fly out of the cave as soon as Jeremy gave the word. William prepared for Jeremy's signal, as well, as he edged his way as close as he dared to the entrance.

"Alright, Jeremy," Aelita called up to her friend, barely able to conceal the nervousness in her voice. "We're ready."

"Alright," Jeremy acknowledged. For what seemed like an eternity, they all stood silently in the cave. Finally the storm sounded as if it were dying down, and that's when Jeremy gave the signal. "Now!"

Without hesitation William leaped forward and out of the cave. Aelita heard clearly the startle cry of a tarantula followed by a shriek of pain before an explosion. Apparently William had managed to catch the monster off guard. It was not a moment later that Aelita was tightening her grip on Odd for dear life as he accelerated the overboard and the two virtual beings flew out of the cave and over the head of the remaining tarantula, which shrieked in frustration before turning its attention back to William. Aelita glanced over her shoulder just in time to see William devirtualized by the tarantula. The monster turned to glare after them but simply roared in rage before turning around and stalking away. Aelita pressed her head against Odd's and closed her eyes. Even though she knew William was alright, it still disturbed her to see him being devirtualized. The logical part of her mind told her he lived, but there was always a small part of her that jerked with fear every time her friend was devirtualized. Aelita remained that way silent for the rest of the journey out of the Blizzard Plateaus, noting only vaguely the sound of Jeremy's voice as he guided Odd out of the deadly plateau.

* * *

Aelita sat quietly at the cafeteria table as she waited for William and Jeremy to finish their meals. She had come because William had told her that Jeremy would inform them of what had been on his mind as of late. She did not want to, however, prevent her workaholic friend from getting some food into his body first, and so she had insisted they finish supper. "You're as bad as Rosa," Jeremy had muttered, but other than that he had offered no further complaints or resistance to the idea. Now as he finished his meal for once, Aelita and William looked over at him expectantly. The blond took a hesitant breath before beginning.

"Alright, so you guys want to know what's been on my mind recently, right?" Jeremy asked for confirmation. Aelita and William nodded even though the answer should have been obvious. Jeremy took another hesitant breath before continuing. "Okay, well, it has to do with some of the data you received from Carthage, Aelita. That and the overall configuration of the Data Barrier."

"How do you mean?" Aelita asked, frowning slightly as she was unsure of where Jeremy was going with this.

"Remember how I used one of the data tunnels that surrounded Carthage to send you and Odd back to Lyoko?" Jeremy asked. Aelita nodded while William just raised an eye. He seemed to get that such questions would have to wait, though, and so remained silent.

"Well, there were three others," Jeremy told them. "One of course went to the Ice Zone, but I have no idea where the other two go. Well, not much of an idea anyways."

"You think they might go to other virtual worlds?" William asked, leaning forward to better focus on the conversation. Jeremy gave the slightest shake of his head.

"Not exactly," Jeremy began hesitantly. He seemed to be trying to figure out how to word what he would say next. "I think they lead to other areas of Lyoko."

"What!?" Aelita exclaimed before lowering her voice and glancing around to make sure her outburst had gone unnoticed. "What do you mean? Other areas of Lyoko," she whispered to Jeremy. Jeremy adjusted his glasses restlessly.

"I mean I don't think the Ice Zone, your forest, and Carthage are different virtual worlds. I think they're all one and the same: Lyoko," Jeremy announced finally. Equal measures of surprise were reflected across William and Aelita's face as he continued. "And I think there are two more of these extensions out there, invisible to us like the Ice Zone was."

"The superscan," Aelita muttered to herself, William glancing at her questioningly. "That's why it wouldn't work."

"Exactly," Jeremy agreed. "The superscan wasn't working because it was trying to scan all five sectors of Lyoko. But it only had access to one and so wouldn't work properly and bugged up."

"Wait a second," William exclaimed holding out his hands. "I thought you had designed the superscan with Lyo-I mean the forest in mind. So how could it have started trying to scan the other sectors?"

"I don't know," Jeremy replied bewildered. "My best guess is that Xana had to pool more energy than normal into his attack that damaged the superscan and my other programs. It might have briefly opened up the rest of Lyoko to the superscan just long enough to bug it up."

"So how can we fix it?" William asked as he shared a look with Aelita that informed each other they knew exactly what was needed. Just to get it out into the open though, Jeremy spoke.

"We need to find the other sectors and unlock them," Jeremy announced. "And we'll need to go through Carthage to do it."

_The samurai was helpless as he was forced to watch his clone get pinned down by a krab and obliterated by a ray of blue energy that suddenly emanated from the monster's underside. The boy blocked yet another volley of laser fire as he rushed forward at super-speeds and cut through the underbellies of three krabs in rapid succession. The monsters exploded in likewise order. But the samurai had only a brief moment of respite before he was set on by the remaining krabs. It had seemed that the monsters had forgone sending him the usual swarms of roaches and hornets. Even the always present detachment of iron spheres, bloks, and walkers - whose sole purpose seemed to be simply to devastate the surrounding landscape as much as possible while they were trapped outside his canyon - were strangely absent. Instead, what he and his clones had found waiting for them at the now-blocked entrances to his tower was a contingent of fifteen krabs at each passage. He had little doubt that his first clone had been dispatched almost instantly. And now his second clone was gone as well. But during that time they had taken down over half of the krabs. Only around a dozen of the monsters were left but that was enough to make the samurai consider retreating into his tower. If he did that, though, then he might never be able to leave. Without constant monitoring, the barriers to his tower would not last for long. Eventually the living artillery of the monsters would make it through and then he would be trapped forever. He would rather go down fighting than face that fate. And so he charged forward with renewed vigor at the krabs, certain that this would be his last battle. However once he had struck down the first krab in his path, the warrior noticed something very strange. The monsters had stopped attacking. The samurai stood still in the middle of the clearing hesitantly. The krabs did likewise. "Well, come on!" The samurai shouted, finally having enough of the eerie silence as he brandished his katana at the creatures. "Are we gonna stand here all day or are you gonna let me take you down!?" It seemed that neither was an option for the krabs as they, much to the warriors shock, simply turned around and walked slowly away. The samurai gaped after the creatures as they disappeared into the canyon. The warrior's blade lightly tinged the ground as his arm slowly lost its willingness to hold the katana up. Slowly the warrior sheathed his sword and turned around to walk into his tower, but not before sending a bewildered glance over his shoulder and in the direction of the receding krabs. 'As if this place didn't have enough mysteries,' the samurai thought to himself as he phased through the wall of the tower and walked to the center, waiting for the structure to rejuvenate his strength._

_The geisha emerged from the tower of the Three-Line Peaks to the sound of an executioner's roar. The girl whipped out her fans so fast they might as well have teleported into her hands. She remained in a battle ready stance for a while longer before realizing that there was not a monster in sight. The roar came again. Actually, now that the geisha was listening to it closer, it sounded more like a shriek, a cry for help instead of a outburst of rage. The girl relaxed her stance and slowly walked away from the tower, fans at the ready just in case. Cautiously she followed the pained shrieks, all the while wondering what could be causing an executioner to make such a noise. She soon got her answer as she rounded the cliff-side of the nearby mountain. She swiftly pressed herself against the rock and retreated slightly behind the cliff. In the brief instant she had rounded the corner the geisha had caught sight of two executioners. Slowly and stealthily the geisha edged her way across the wall, body pressed against the rock face. She leaned her head slightly away from the wall to get another look at the creatures. What she saw surprised her. On a rather narrow stretch of the mountain path were two executioners. That was not the surprising part. What was surprising was the fact that one of the massive creatures was pinned underneath a rock while the other seemed to be trying to figure out how to free its companion but to no avail. The rock must have fallen slowly as the pinned creature was evidently not destroyed. It shrieked again in pain and frustration. It was certainly a terrible sound to hear, that of such a powerful creature rendered helpless. The geisha wondered what could have caused the boulder to fall onto the executioner. Then she realized. This had been the site of a battle between herself and a swarm of hornets a little over a span ago. Their conflict must have weakened the cliff-side just enough so that when the massive executioners walked by, one of them inadvertently knocked a portion of the damaged cliff-side onto itself. The geisha stared at the spectacle, transfixed by the sight even though she knew she should run. There was little doubt in her mind that the executioners had been on their way to attack her. After all, she had given them that name for a reason and she had never seen these creatures just wander about the mountains like the other monsters she had encountered. But still, against all logic and experience, she wondered. Hovering indecisively on the sidelines, the geisha stepped out onto the path behind the executioners and lifted a hand, her body glowing with white energy. The pinned executioner let out a shriek of warning to its companion who looked ready to attack before frantically skittering away from the boulder as it lifted up into the air and off of the down monster. The already free executioner did not attack, however, instead seeming as confused as the geisha felt. She levitated the boulder over the edge of the cliff and let it drop into the sea below as the formerly-pinned executioner climbed unsteadily to its feet. The two parties stared at each other for a moment. Then, without a sound the executioners turned around and walked away from the geisha. The girl sighed in relief. It seemed that even these creatures had a sense of honor. And so that was how the Tower of Honor gained its name._

**Post Author's Note: Once again thank y'all for the reviews, I really appreciate them and they certainly give me enthusiasm boosts when writing this story. I hope you enjoyed this installment of Lyoko Guardians and I hope you keep the input coming. Now so far it seems that the kasari-gama is a favorite for Hiroki's weapon (I'm warming up to the idea quite a bitmyself), but as his introductory chapter is still a decent ways away (sadly), I still welcome your input. Once again (and for the last time as well), the choices of weapons are the aforementioned one, a pair of kama, or a naginata. Thanks in advance for the reviews, and until next time, readers, where the Lyoko Wanderers will set out to explore a new world.  
**


	14. Chapter 14

**Author's Note: So my longest chapter yet and it is finally out. Sorry for the wait guys (normal excuses: procrastination, writer's block, etc.), I quite literally spent all day working on this so I could get this installment out today. Before I forget (as sleepy as I am while I write this), thank you so much for all the reviews! And concerning the super smoke ability, yes, lyokowarrior, it is indeed Hiroki who is the one getting this ability (once again, apologies William), as it is quite a ninja-like ability and I did not want such an awesome ability going to waste. Now as for the season four jump-suits, I believe that is answered somewhere in the story below. So without further ado, I hope you enjoy. **

**Now on with the story...**

_The samurai and his pair of clones stood over a slab of desert sandstone in which was etched a detailed map of the Northern Wastes. In his rare free time the samurai had worked on it to better study and track the movements of the monsters, and it had worked superbly. That is, until now. For the samurai could not make any sense now out the plethora of lines, landmarks, and pieces of stone that represented monsters. For some time the monsters had stopped their attacks altogether. In fact from what the boy could tell, the monsters had given up on the Northern Wastes completely. The samurai was so confident in this fact that he had not even bothered sending one of his counterparts to patrol the passes. He knew there was no need to. What he could not figure out was why there was no need to. While it was true that in the last attack where the krabs had retreated he may have been able to defeat them and survive, this would not have been the case with the truly massive army of monsters that was gathering in the Valley Plateau. Now normally a gathering of the beasts this large would concern him, that is if he knew that it had anything to do with him. The samurai's brow furrowed in confusion. He was missing something but what? "What could they be up to," the samurai muttered aloud, partly to himself and partly to his clones. Unfortunately none of them knew the answer to that question. There did seem to be someone who did know, however, and they spoke up from behind the samurai. "__**We can tell you that**__." The warrior and his counterparts spun around at the sound of another voice, all three of their swords unsheathed in three smooth movements. But what they saw in front of them caused the samurai to lower his sword in shock. Before him was, well, him. Instead of being dressed in yellow and black, though, this warrior was clad in a dull orange mixed with ebony, and unlike the samurai his skin was pale, his eyes maroon, and he bore the Mark of the Desert on his forehead. "Who are you? And who's 'we'?" The samurai demanded of the intruder, brandishing his katana in the air towards the newcomer. "__**Perhaps you should be asking that of yourself**__," the strange duplicate replied with a wave of his hand as he indicated the samurai's clones. "__**We are not here to fight you. We are here to...talk**__." The samurai hesitated at this, thoughts racing through his head as he considered the stranger. On one hand he had never met another like himself and this would be a start. But on the other hand this could all be some sort of elaborate ploy. The being standing before him bore the Mark of the Desert after all, the same as that of the monsters. And on top of that, something felt...off about him. Of course, that could just have been a result of the samurai having been alone for so long. At last the samurai nodded slowly. "Fusion," he ordered stoically. His counterparts surged towards him, morphing into blurs before colliding and combining with the samurai's body. The warrior stared over at his twisted counterpart. "Alright, talk," he commanded simply. The newcomer waited a few seconds before speaking. "__**We have come to seek an...alliance**__." The samurai eyed the being cautiously. "And who, or what, are you to make such an offer?" The stranger's gaze remained expressionless as ever as he gestured to their surroundings. "__**We are the guardian of this world. All that you see around you is ours...to protect and sustain. It is our creatures that you have done battle with**__." The samurai's grip tightened around the hilt of his sword. "And what if I decided to cut you down right here and now," the warrior growled. The stranger appeared unconcerned and merely spoke again, its tone unchanged. "__**You would accomplish nothing. This...avatar is but a projection. Destroying it would be comparable to destroying one of our creatures**__." The samurai narrowed his eyes. He was tempted to test this claim but too many questions whirled through his mind. "Alright," the samurai replied slowly, sheathing his sword deliberately. "Let's say that's true, and my killing you wouldn't do you any harm. What makes you think I want to ally with you?" The being paused for a second, as if actually considering the question. "__**Self preservation**__," the stranger said at last. "__**We have a...common enemy**__." The warrior frowned at this. What threat could there possibly be to such a being that it would require his assistance? Still, different questions burned in the samurai's mind more-so. The same ones that had gone unanswered the first time he had asked them. "Well, let's say this is all true. I still don't know who you are and why I should trust you." The samurai challenged the newcomer. It narrowed its eyes ever so slightly before answering in a cold, monotonous voice. "__**We are Xana**__."_

_The geisha edged her way along the side of the mountain. She had nearly completed mapping the entirety of the Three-Line Peaks when she had discovered a small, rugged cliff side trail that ran up the face of one of the towering mountains. This of course required that she explore and survey it. Fortunately she was having more luck doing so than her endeavors with the Tower of Honor. She had yet to learn anything new about the towers' purpose or use. Still, at least there were no new questions, so there was that at least. The geisha was starting to tire of all the mysteries which seemed to pervade every part of her home. She wished that she could just get a straight answer for once. She was drawn from her musings by the familiar sound of hornets, their wings vibrating the air as they flew. 'Oh, great,' the geisha grumbled silently to herself. 'Just what I need.' Exposed on the side of the mountain, the geisha would be a sitting target. She glanced down the side of the cliff. There was not even a cluster of trees she would be able to grab onto if she fell. The buzzing noise of the hornets grew closer and more intense. The geisha soon spotted the swarm as they rounded the mountain's peak. There was five of them in total but that would be more than enough. The geisha whipped out her fans and readied herself as best as she could on the narrow path. She braced herself for the attack that was certain to come. Only it never did. The swarm of hornets simply flew a few lengths above her head as if they had not even seen her. Yet she knew they had. The geisha had fought them long enough to know their blind spots and she had not been in one of them. When the swarm had finally disappeared into the distance the geisha replaced her fans into her satchel. "Great, another mystery," the geisha muttered to herself as she began to edge her way across the cliff side once more._

Flames rippled into the air as Odd dodged through the rings of fire that emanated from the nearby blok. Twisting his body and keeping his arms stretched out in front of him, Odd barely managed to make it through the inferno unsinged. But unsinged he was when he landed in front of the blok exactly when it emitted its final fiery halo.

"Hey there," Odd waved mockingly in the blok's eye that was nearest to him before he quickly raised his right wrist and took aim. "Laser arrow!" He intoned cheekily as one of the said arrows shot from his paw and proceeded to shatter the cube-like creature into a dozen rock-like fragments.

"Nice move, Odd," Aelita called from across the icy battlefield where she and William were currently dealing with - or rather dodging the attacks of - a single, menacing tarantula. "But do you want to tell us _where_ exactly this tower of yours is?" Aelita continued even as she tucked and rolled across the snow-covered ground to avoid the tarantula's onslaught of laser bolts.

"Why but of course, Princess," Odd replied cheerfully in a singsong voice as he took aim at the tarantula and fired off a few arrows with his usual flare. "It's in the cave right behind the waterfall."

The tarantula shrieked in rage as Odd's arrows impacted with its body. Turning to briefly face this new irritant, the monster fired off a few energy bolts in Odd's direction before turning its attention back to the far nearer threat of William's massive sword, Zweihänder. Unfortunately for the three wanderers, the tarantula was doing a pretty good job keeping the dopplesoldner at bay.

"That's all very nice," William grunted as he was forced to swing and parry Zweihänder in order to block the oncoming flurry of laser bolts. "But how do we get there with this tarantula on our tail?"

"Tourists," Odd admonished jokingly with a playful roll of his eyes. "Everyone knows tarantulas are the worst swimmers!" Aelita and William managed to share a confused glance in the midst of their mutual avoidance of the tarantula's attacks but before they could speak Odd preemptively bulldozed over them. "Follow me, guys!"

Aelita and William began to object but were surprising interrupted by an affirmation from Jeremy.

"You guys might want to do what he says," Jeremy advised from above. "I've looked over the ice cave he's talked about and I think I know what his plan is."

"See? Even Jeremy recognizes my genius," Odd smirked smugly as he fired off a few more rounds of laser arrows before turning tail and running towards the waterfall. Aelita and William simply shared a glance before shrugging and following after Odd the best they could. Jeremy, however, wasn't about to let Odd get away with his statement.

"Might want to save the gloating until _after_ your plan actually works, Odd," Jeremy commented dryly as Odd skidded to a stop by the thundering cascade of water that fell from the appropriately named Waterfall Peak.

"And what if it's already worked before, huh?" Odd huffed indignantly as he took aim at the tarantula once more before laying down cover fire for Aelita and William. "Not so much gloating then, huh?"

"Nope, it's still gloating," Jeremy retorted smoothly. "Especially if it's anything like one of your stories where kankrelats and bloks mysteriously morph into tarantulas and megatanks."

Odd's face quirked slightly in embarrassment. Surely he didn't exaggerate that much? Odd was unable to ponder the question as a stray laser bolt from the tarantula flew towards him. "Whoa!" He shouted in shock as he quickly crouched to the ground to avoid the energy blast. "Hey, watch it!" He yelled at the tarantula, shaking a fisted paw indignantly at the monster.

"Be careful what you wish for," Aelita teased the feline smoothly as she finally joined him by the side of the waterfall. "It might just take you up on your advice and aim better next time."

"It can try, but it still won't hit me," Odd shrugged nonchalantly as he pointed a claw to a place behind the waterfall, oblivious to Aelita's knowing eye roll at his cocky statement. "Here's the cave. The tower's at the very back. You can't miss it."

"I would hope not," Aelita commented absentmindedly as she glanced over her shoulder to where William was slowly backing up towards them, all the while taking on the brunt of the tarantula's assault. The virtual elf tore her gaze away from her friend and directed it into the cavern behind the waterfall. Surprise briefly flashed across her face. "Odd!" Aelita exclaimed as she caught sight of the water filled cavern. "How are we supposed to get through the cave? Swim?"

"Of course not, silly," Odd replied laughingly as he stepped behind the waterfall on a small outcropping of ice that extended a short ways into the water-filled cavern. He took one of Aelita's hands and pulled her behind the icy current of water that crashed down from above. With his free paw he pointed out a series of what looked like miniaturized icebergs that had previously been out of sight from the cave's entrance. "You jump on the ice floes until you reach solid ice on the other side. But if you fall off, don't worry. All you'll have to do is swim. The water here's not like the virtual sea."

"If you say so," Aelita replied, a trace of nervousness barely detectible in her voice. "But what about William and the tarantula?"

"Don't you worry about that, Princess," Odd waved off her concerns with a smirk. "I'll take care of it. Like I said, tarantulas are terrible swimmers!"

A light dawned in Aelita's eyes as she finally realized what Odd meant by that statement.

"Well, then," Aelita smirked at Odd before jumping onto the first ice floe. "You might not want to keep William waiting."

"No problem, Princess," Odd assured the virtual girl with a grin before whirling around and racing out of the ice cavern to help William.

* * *

Another energy bolt slammed into Zweihänder as William held it out in front of him, one hand on the hilt and one hand on the dull side of the massive sword. 'Come on, Odd,' William grumbled to himself silently. 'Hurry it up!'

His quiet complaint was riposted to by Odd's arrival shortly after. "Laser arrow!" The hybrid shouted as a flurry of the projectiles shot from both his wrists and slammed into the tarantula, which screeched in pain at the impact.

'How much can this thing take?' William thought in frustration as the tarantula angrily shook off the attack and resumed its assault on William, but not before launching a few choice energy bolts in Odd's direction. All of which were dodged by the feline. "I think you made it angry." William quipped dryly to Odd as the dopplesoldner continued to retreat before the monster's onslaught.

"Desperate, more like," Jeremy commented on the battle casually. He did not sound particularly concerned about William and Odd, though that might have been because neither of them had actually lost any life-points - speaking of which. "It's low on life-points. A few more laser arrows should finish it off," Jeremy reported, but before Odd had a chance to take aim once more, he continued. "Unfortunately you only have one laser arrow left Odd."

William saw Odd quickly lower his raised paw conservatively. Despite this rare instance of rationality, Odd still had plastered on his face his near-ever-present self-confident smirk.

"That's all I need," Odd assured Jeremy cockily. "We just need to get our friendly neighborhood spider into the cave with us."

William rolled his eyes at Odd's quip. Aelita must have been showing him around the Internet in their free time when they weren't gallivanting around Lyoko. Nevertheless, William used the distraction that Odd was providing by simply being there to withdraw as fast as possible towards the waterfall. Once he had gotten far enough away from the tarantula, the monster was forced to stand up on all fours in order to get closer. Seizing the temporary moment of ceasefire, William ran after Odd to the entrance of the ice cave. William skidded to a stop when he came to the water-filled cavern.

"Are we supposed to swim?" William asked incredulously like Aelita before him. He was, in fact, a good swimmer and so, if swimming was the only option, he was fine with that. Not thrilled, of course, as he would have to lug Zweihänder, but alright with it. Odd shook his head, however, and pointed to one side of the ice cave.

"Nope, hop on those, don't fall off, and you'll reach the other side nice and dry," Odd told the dopplesoldner before leaping forward and landing on all fours onto the first ice floe. "Now hurry up before that tarantula gets here! We need it to follow us."

"Alright," William breathed almost to himself, as he backed up before getting a running start. Leaping forward over the icy water, William was surprised that Zweihänder's massive size helped propel him further. Using this to his advantage, William began to jump rapidly from ice floe to ice floe, smoothly landing before jumping off the ice blocks an instant later. He had nearly caught up to Odd, who was continuing to leap from floe to floe not unlike a cat, when the familiar roar of the tarantula thundered through the crystalline cave.

"Okay, show time!" Odd announced as he skidded to a halt, claws etching lines in the ice beneath him. William skidded to a halt as well but instead of claws used Zweihänder to counterbalance his own weight and prevent himself from sliding off the ice sheet as it wobbled back and forth beneath him.

"What, now?" William asked Odd as the tarantula walked onto the thin ice ledge that extended below the waterfall.

"Watch," Odd replied gleefully as he pointed a claw in the direction of their pursuer. William turned to look at the tarantula, and he could now see why Odd had wanted to lure the monster into the cave.

Deprived of enough room to deploy its leg cannons, the tarantula was reluctantly beginning to make its onto the nearest ice floes. Unfortunately for the tarantula, however, its legs were not designed with traction in mind. That, added to its weight, meant that the two separate ice sheets beneath its legs began to wobble and tilt inwards. The monster's attempts to regain balance only accelerated the process, and with a frustrated screech it partially fell into the icy pool below, revealing its symbol to the two Lyoko Wanderers. William did not even have to turn to know what Odd was doing.

"Laser arrow!" The hybrid shouted, and not even a second later a small projectile shot past William and impacted with the tarantula's symbol. The monster jerked upwards at the impact before its legs gave out from beneath it and it collapse into the ice cold water before exploding.

William rested Zweihänder on his shoulder as he turned to face Odd. "Guess you were right," William told the feline. "Tarantula's _are_ horrible swimmers." Odd just grinned in response before leaping onto the frozen ground on the edge of the icy pool.

* * *

Aelita stood on the upper platform of the tower that lay within the waterfall's cavern. Walking to the center of the circular platform, Aelita activated the tower's interface, placing her hand on the crystalline panel.

"How are they doing?" Aelita asked as the tower recognized her and permitted her access, to which she was quick to make use of.

"Oh, don't worry about them," Jeremy reassured her, keys clacking in the background as he too made preparations for unlocking the tower. "They just took care of the tarantula without a scratch on either of them. I'll admit I'm impressed. You guys are getting better. None of you have lost any life-points."

"Well, I guess we've just gotten used to all the fighting," Aelita shrugged as she activated her part of the tower unlock program. "How's that?"

"Excellent, I'll run my half of the program and the tower should be unlocked in no time," Jeremy replied. Aelita smiled slightly at the hint of enthusiasm in the boy's voice that he always got when one of his programs was working smoothly and without a hitch. "Alright, there we go! Waterfall Peak is unlocked! I'm getting telemetry from every part of this section. That leaves only four sections left in the Ice Zone left to unlock."

"And what about your theory on Lyoko?" Aelita asked curiously. She was a little nervous to know the answer but at the same time she was excited. If there were other sections of Lyoko then there might be others like her and Odd. And as the human saying went, the more the merrier.

"Yes, I've got some data on it," Jeremy replied seriously. "And from what I can see; Carthage, your forest, and the Ice Zone are indeed all sectors of Lyoko - individual but ultimately a part of the same virtual environment. I'd estimate there are around five sectors in total."

"Will we be able to reach them?" Aelita asked eagerly. She heard the signature clacking of Jeremy's keyboard for a few seconds before he responded.

"Yes, I think so," Jeremy replied. "From what I can tell, the activated tower here in the the Ice Zone - or rather Ice Sector is a link to the next sector. I imagine that's why Xana is keeping it active: to block our access."

"Is there any other way to reach the next sector?" Aelita asked, thinking back to the ill-fated expedition she and her friends had made into the Blizzard Plateaus.

"Well, there is another way," Jeremy began hesitantly, his voice fading away. Aelita waited a few seconds for him to respond before prompting him on.

"Yes?"

"Well, the other way you could get to the next sector is through Carthage," Jeremy finally admitted hesitantly. Aelita could understand his reluctance. Carthage was a dangerous place, full of monsters and traps. And that's not even mentioning the scyphozoa that Xana wanted to use to steal her memories. Still, it seemed a better alternative at the moment than going through the Blizzard Plateaus.

"Then let's do it. Let's go through Carthage."

* * *

Jeremy's head jerked upwards as he glanced in shock at the central monitor where Aelita's face was displayed. "W-what?" He stuttered in surprise. Surely he had misheard.

"You heard me," Aelita affirmed his fears that he had not misheard. "We haven't lost any life-points, and there's plenty of time. Why not go to the next sector through Carthage?"

"Are you crazy?" Jeremy exclaimed incredulously at the virtual girl before him. "Carthage is just too dangerous! One wrong move and you or Odd won't be coming back! Besides, we already have our hands full with _two_ sectors, let alone three."

"Yes, but Jeremy," Aelita began, pausing slightly as she pursed her lips. "What if there's another guardian like me and Odd? What if they need our help? You've heard what Odd went through before we found him. I don't want anyone else to have to live like that all alone."

Jeremy clenched his jaw in indecision. He knew he would not be able to win this argument. No doubt Odd and William would be just as enthusiastic, or at least eager, to venture forth into a new sector, each with their own reasons. And besides, he could not deny that on some level he agreed with Aelita. There may very well be other guardians like her and Odd, and despite his chronic annoyance of the blond-haired program, Jeremy was still glad they had come across him. Well, technically _he_ had come across _them_, but, semantics.

"Alright, let's do it," Jeremy replied finally. "But if you lose any more than a third of your life-points we're pulling out."

"Pulling out of where?" Odd's voice came from his comm. Apparently Odd and William had finally entered the tower just in time to hear his affirmation of Aelita's proposal.

"We're going to go to the next sector through Carthage," Aelita explained for him, adding quickly after that. "We have enough life-points and time to make it."

"Hey, that's cool with me, William?" Odd replied nonchalantly. "Okay then, let's do it." Given William's apparent lack of a verbal answer, Jeremy could only assume that the older boy had simply shrugged in agreement.

"Alright, then, if you're all ready, I'm sending you your vehicles," Jeremy announced as his fingers flew across the keyboard to fulfill his statement. "Head to the edge of the Ice Sector and I'll enter the code: Scipio."

* * *

It was some time later when the trio of wanderers reached the sloping incline that led to the highest point of the Ice Bridges and the edge of the Ice Sector. They were gliding, or in William's case riding, across the landscape on their respective vehicles. Aelita was piloting the overwing; Odd was performing loop-de-loops and various other aerial tricks on the overboard; and William was hunched down over the handles of the overbike. Each came to a halt in equally various ways when they reached the small mesa atop the massive column of ice. Aelita slowed the overwing to a gentle halt; William swerved the overbike to a stop and placed a leg on the ground with the vehicle now horizontal to his former course; while Odd performed one last loop before bringing the overboard to earth, metaphorically speaking of course.

"Alright, Jeremy, we're here," Aelita called up to her friend as she stepped off the overwing. A second later the vehicle, along with all of the others, devirtualized and flickered out of existence.

"Okay, guys," Jeremy reported from above. "Get ready, I'm entering the code: Scipio."

With that said, Aelita, Odd, and William walked towards the edge of the icy cliff and stood close together. Equal measures of excitement and fear raced through Aelita as the white transporter sphere, marked with a blue eye of Xana, emerged from the digital sea and enveloped the virtual elf and her friends in a blinding white light as they were whisked away to Carthage and the unknown sector that awaited them.

* * *

The light faded as the world spun around and around. A thin column of light emerged from the ceiling and spiraled down closer and closer to the floor, signaling the arrival of the corridor. The world spun even more for Odd as a wave of dizziness overcame him, and the strange sensation of nausea in his lower abdomen struck again like it had once before. The hybrid, like the last time, collapsed onto his paws, one of them instinctively clutching his stomach while the other covered his mouth, for whatever reason.

"Ugh," Odd groaned as the spinning finally stopped. "What is it with this thing that makes me feel so sick. Seriously, what?"

"You mean this has happened before?" William asked, raising an eyebrow. Apparently he was just as confused as Odd was at the hybrid having a 'sick stomach'.

"Yeah, when Odd and I got sent here by accident the last time, this happened as well," Aelita answered for the hybrid. Which was probably a good thing, as Odd felt it would be a bad idea for him to remove his paw from his mouth and speak. Why he thought so, he had no idea. All that he knew was that next time he was going to vote to go through Blizzard Plateaus. It would most certainly be better than whatever the Xana this illness was. Slowly the feline's nausea dissipated and he climbed to his feet, his body beginning to feel better already.

"Alright, let's get going," Odd exclaimed, eager to exit the room. The corridor slammed down onto the floor of the central platform as if to punctuate his words.

"You have less than two minutes to deactivate the trigger," Jeremy informed them from above. "Get going or Carthage will begin to reconfigure."

None of them wasted any time as they raced off down the corridor. Odd was leading in front, racing across the floor on all fours as he was, while Aelita and William ran behind him, Aelita never having been the fastest runner in Lyoko and William being weighed down by Zweihänder.

* * *

Jeremy typed in code after code as he shifted through the information before him. The map of the room his friends were approaching was simple. Too simple for his liking. It was comprised of a switch on the opposing side of the chamber as the door and a pathway between the two. The pathway was just that, though, a path. On either side of the bridge, however, were deep chasms. Falling down those would no doubt be a bad thing.

"I've located the switch," Jeremy informed his friends as they reached the cavernous room.

"Yeah, so have we, Einstein. It's not exactly hidden," Odd replied. Jeremy could imagine that he was pointing out the switch as he said that. Still, caution was needed.

"Be careful," Jeremy warned. "I'm not picking anything up on my screens, but knowing Xana I doubt its going to be a walk in the park."

"Don't worry, Jeremy," William assured him. "We'll have it deactivated in no time."

With that William, Odd, and Aelita began to run across the bridge-like pass-way. "So much for caution," Jeremy muttered to himself ruefully. And then he saw it. The ceiling of the chamber was beginning to collapse behind his friends as they ran.

"Look out! The ceiling is collapsing! Run!"

* * *

At Jeremy's panicked cry, Aelita glanced over her shoulder behind her and screamed in shock as the first column slammed into the floor with a sickening thud. Her fear intensified as the remainder of the ceiling was soon to follow in short order, slowly outpacing the virtual elf. Driven by terror, Aelita pushed herself harder than she ever had before as she dodged and swerved out of the path of the megalithic pillars that threatened to crush her. Dread filled her as the ground all around her began to darken.

"Aelita!" She heard Odd shout in warning and panic before the feline crashed into her with enough force to send them both flying out of the way of the oncoming pillar. They rolled over each other until finally coming to a stop with Odd laying beneath her.

"Thanks, Odd," Aelita breathed in relief down to the feline. Odd began to smile back but his face suddenly changed from relief to panic. Aelita knew with a sense of dread what was coming even before the ground began to become covered in shadow. Twisting around, Aelita let out a scream of fear as she instinctively raised her hand in front of her for all the good that would do. Before the column could crush the two virtual beings, however, it suddenly ground to a halt. Odd and Aelita stared wide-eyed up at the megalithic pillar as it slowly receded towards the ceiling. Twisting their heads around, the two saw that William had managed to reach the end of the bridge and press the deactivation mechanism.

"I've tripped the switch," William called up to Jeremy in relief as he walked over to Odd and Aelita, who were still frozen in a mixture of shock and relief at what they had just narrowly avoided. Reaching them, William added teasingly. "Now I'm sure you two are comfortable, but we should probably get moving."

Aelita was confused by what he meant by that when she looked down at Odd and realized what William had been implying. She quickly jumped off of Odd and awkwardly helped him up. Fortunately Odd apparently had no idea of what William was implying. If she had been human, Aelita would have no doubt blushed. She would have to find out a way to get William back for that, and the look she gave the dopplesoldner as she walked past made it official. William seemed to be having to much fun with her embarrassment to be concerned and simply shrugged innocently. Oh yes, she was going to get him back for that little verbal salvo for sure.

* * *

Jeremy let out a shuddering sigh of relief. He leaned back in his chair as his friends made their way towards the elevator and the celestial dome. He knew once they got there they would need their vehicles but he needed to let his heart slow down first. It felt like it was racing a thousand kilometers per hour and and about ready to burst out of his chest. That was probably one of the closest times he had ever come to losing Aelita. He was more than grateful at the moment for William's presence in their little group of friends. Without him, Aelita would have surely been devirtualized for good and Odd along with her. Finally his heart settled down and with a deep breath, Jeremy sat back up and began to type in the necessary commands to revirtualize the vehicles.

* * *

Odd glance over at Aelita with a ponderous look on his face. He was currently wondering how someone, in this case Aelita, could possibly be capable of sending what could be equated as a look of embarrassment at one person while simultaneously also sending a look towards another person that was somewhere between vengeful and mischievous. Of course the recipients of these looks were Odd and William, respectively. And Odd could not figure out for the life of him what was up with Aelita. He got that it must have been what William had said earlier, but he just did not understand why. He shrugged the mystery off as the elevator reached their destination. It was probably just a human thing Aelita had picked up, nothing to worry about.

"Alright, Jeremy, we're here," William called up to the boy as the trio walked onto the platform that led to the outside of the celestial dome. "Could you send us our - never mind." William cut off his request for vehicles as the overwing appeared at the end of the small ledge with the overboard and overbike flanking it.

"Okay, listen," Jeremy's voice came over the comm as William swung a leg over the overbike while Odd leaped onto the overboard. "I'm deactivating the third data stream. It will be on the other side of Carthage so get moving."

"Got it, Jeremy," Aelita responded as she stepped onto the overwing and gunned the acceleration. William and Odd followed swiftly behind. Odd glanced over to William as they rounded the massive metallic sphere that was Carthage.

"Hey, why'd Aelita get all funny after what you said?" Odd asked as quietly as he could in order to make sure his voice did not reach Aelita. Who knew how she would react; it was better to be safe than sorry with her. William glanced over at the hybrid with an eyebrow raised knowingly.

"I'll tell you some other time," William assured the hybrid, as he shot his own look of caution at the virtual elf before adding with a mischievous smirk. "Or maybe you can ask Aelita to tell you all about it."

"Why do I get the feeling that wouldn't be the best idea?" Odd riposted, crossing his arms doubtfully. William simply shrugged and gunned the overbike to catch up with Aelita. Odd followed quickly in suit.

"Look out, guys," Jeremy's voice came from the comm system in warning. "Mantas at ten o'clock."

Odd glanced around the vast blue, glowing dome, uncertain at what Jeremy meant by 'ten o'clock' and somewhat nervous at the prospect of meeting a group of mantas. He had always had a dislike for flying monsters. But while hornets were annoying at best, mantas were downright menacing.

"There," William pointed out for him, and Odd turned his head to his left to see a cluster of mantas beginning to hatch from the 'data barrier' of Carthage.

"Are we there yet?" Odd asked nervously as the bulges in the shimmering barrier began to grow more pronounced, disturbing yet fascinating all at the same time.

"Almost," Aelita called over her shoulder as she swerved the overwing to the right and pointed for Odd's benefit. "There's the data stream. It's already deactivating."

Sure enough, Odd could see the strange tunnel-like current of shimmering blue panels they were headed for begin to disappear.

"Just in time, too," Odd heard William mutter. Looking over his shoulder, Odd could see what the boy meant. Behind them the mantas had finally hatched and were headed there way, their eerie and echoing shrieks filling the air.

"No time to lose!" Aelita exclaimed as she gunned the overwing once more and, with William and Odd in hot pursuit, entered the vortex-like aperture that the data stream had previously filled. As soon as they had entered the empty data stream the mantas veered away from pursuing them to return to Carthage. Odd breathed a sigh of relief before he, Aelita, and William were pulled into the stream of numbers and panels that was to take them to a new sector.

* * *

A warrior clad in a black and yellow kimono rested his hand on the hilt of his sheathed katana as he surveyed the valley below. The two pieces of cloth that hung loose from his hachimaki fluttered in the slight breeze as he continued to vigilantly watch the tower that lay in the center of the valley. He glanced behind him once more to ensure he had not been followed.

After reluctantly agreeing to ally with Xana, the samurai had been instructed to join the force of monsters that was preparing for the arrival of the invaders. The warrior was not about to trust this Xana, however, and so the first chance he could find, the samurai had summoned his two clones. One he had sent to act as his decoy among the monsters so that Xana would not become suspicious. The other clone he had sent into the valley below on the opposite side of the tower. When the invaders came through, the samurai and his counterpart would be waiting on both sides.

The samurai's eyes narrowed as the wall of the tower began to ripple and three beings stepped forth. The boy's first thoughts were that they were like him, but he shook away the notion. The 'avatar' Xana had created had also been 'like' him but was obviously not. The warrior inspected the new arrivals. Surely these were not the ones that had come to destroy the desert? Then again, Xana had said they were merely the harbingers of the destruction that was supposedly to come. No, the honor of bearing the title of destroyer apparently belonged to one named 'Jeremy'. A strange name, but then the samurai hadn't heard many other names, so he really wasn't one to judge.

Now perhaps Xana had been telling the truth. But perhaps he was not. There was only one way to find out, and that was to hear the other side of the story. He surveyed the small band making their way slowly through the valley, seemingly gawking at what they saw. He would need to take one of them prisoner. The one in front did not seem to be a good choice for a prisoner. He was clad in a strange white and cobalt body-suit and on his shoulder rested what had to have been the largest sword the samurai had ever seen - or even imagined possible. The massive blade was nearly as large as its wielder, and the samurai had little doubt that he was a warrior. The first to be taken down in a fight, perhaps, but not a good target for capture.

The second being was perhaps the strangest. This being was clad in a sort of garb the samurai could not identify and flamboyantly sported a variety of purples. On top of that, the boy, if it could be called such, had a large spike of hair that seemed to make up almost a fourth of his height. Stranger than that was the fact that this being appeared to have a tail, which would occasionally lash back and forth. Other than that, the creature appeared to be quite scrawny and a tempting target. But something about him told the samurai there was more to the flamboyantly dressed creature than met the eye.

No, the best candidate for being the samurai's prisoner was probably the one in the back. The boy - no, something didn't sound right about that. The being was not a boy, the samurai knew that somehow, but then what was it? He shook his head. That didn't matter. All that mattered was that the pink-clad being was unarmed and near the back of the group. On top of that, this being fit the description of the one Xana had instructed to be captured alive. Might as well kill two hornets with one stroke.

With that decided, the samurai signaled with his sword for his double to advance behind the intruders and capture the pink-haired being. That being done, the warrior ducked out of sight as one of the party caught a glimpse of his sword's shine. He then began to quickly and stealthily make his way down into the valley. Destroyers or not, they were intruders and would be dealt with as such.

* * *

Aelita stared around the vast canyon of sandstone as the warm desert sun poured its brilliant light over them. Odd had noticed the glowing orb first, and both he and Aelita had stared at it for a while before William broke in. "You know it's not good to stare at the sun," he had said with a hint of a chuckle. After that the little group began to make their way through the canyon on foot, having opted to leave their vehicles by the tower for now.

"The colors are so different than Lyo-I mean the Forest Sector," Aelita breathed as she stared around at the massive multicolored walls of sandstone. "And the Ice Sector, too."

"Tell me about it," Odd put in from where he was strolling in front of her, William in front of him in turn with Zweihänder resting on his shoulder. "This has to be like the opposite of my home."

"You've got that right," William replied from the front of the line as he glanced upwards. "How does it look from up there Jeremy?"

There was no response but the slight keening of the desert breeze. A light went on in Aelita's head as she slapped her head in a self-reprimand.

"He can't hear us," Aelita exclaimed, feeling rather silly for having forgotten. "Not until I begin unlocking the tower."

She was about to turn around when something grabbed one of her arms and twisted it behind her back. She let out a squeak of alarm as she felt a sharp blade press against her throat. William and Odd whirled around at the sound of her whimpering cry. Odd snarled when he saw Aelita's predicament, and William hefted Zweihänder off his shoulder menacingly at Aelita's captor. Her two friends were about to advance when a voice stopped them. But instead of coming from her captor, it came from behind the two boys.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you."

The voice was serious, toneless, and dry, sounding almost unused. The owner of that voice approached from the side. For some reason William and Odd seemed shocked by his arrival. They looked between the newcomer and her captor, confusion written on their faces for whatever reason. Aelita took the time to inspect the newcomer.

He was somewhere in height between William and Odd (that is if Odd didn't have the hair he did). He wore a strange yellow and black garb that seemed vaguely familiar to Aelita. Around his head was a small band of cloth that had two strands of it fluttering in the breeze. His hair was brown as were his eyes, and in his hand was held a wickedly sharp sword that Aelita had only seen a picture of in history class. If she remembered the lesson correctly, it was called a katana. It was the sword of a samurai.

"Who are you?" Odd growled at the samurai. The feline was currently almost on all fours with one paw raised threateningly from the ground with claws extended. His tail was lashing angrily.

"And what do you want?" William added, brandishing Zweihänder to punctuate his question. The stranger seemed unperturbed by the dopplesoldner's threat, merely looking the boy up and down before seemingly deciding he was not worth much attention.

"Concerning your first question," the samurai began slowly after a moment of silence. "I have no idea. And as for your second," at this the samurai narrowed his eyes and took an aggressive step forward. "It is one I should be asking you, invaders."

* * *

William frowned at the samurai's words. Seeing as there was no point at the moment in fighting as long as the samurai's duplicate or twin or whatever he was held Aelita at sword point, William let Zweihänder pull his arm towards the ground, its tip clinging against the hard desert sandstone.

"What makes you think we're invaders?" William asked the strange warrior. The samurai regarded him coldly for a few seconds before answering.

"Because whether or not you are invaders as Xana said," the samurai replied, completely ignoring the three shocked gasps from the Lyoko Wanderers at the mention of Xana's name. "You do not belong here. And if you are truly allied with this 'Jeremy', then you are my enemy."

"You know Jeremy? Why are you against him?" Aelita gasped out against the blade pressing against her throat. The samurai turned his gaze towards the virtual elf, curiosity shining in his eyes for a fraction of a second at the sight of Aellita's pointed ears. But other than that no emotion showed on his face. He might as well have been a statue for all of the expression his face had.

"I know _of_ him," the samurai stated simply after he had finished studying the girl. "And I know enough to recognize he is a danger to my world. That is enough reason for me to be against him."

"That's ridiculous!" Odd snarled, seeming almost feral to William. "Jeremy's not a threat to anyone! The only threat I see around here is you."

The samurai regarded the feline carefully before nodding slowly. "Yes," he agreed, much to the obvious surprise of Odd. "I suppose I am a threat. To you at least. I suppose it depends on your point of view."

Despite the calmness of the samurai's words, William could almost feel the tension in the air between the boy and Odd, who looked like he might leap forward at the samurai any second now. That would not end well for Odd at the very least and might endanger Aelita.

"Look," William put in, drawing the samurai's attention to him and momentarily breaking up the nearly tangible tension. "We're not your enemy - and neither is Jeremy. He's not a threat to your world."

"You say 'your world' as if you are not from it," the samurai remarked, raising an eyebrow. If William remembered correctly, that was only the second time the brunette had shown any sign of expression.

"And you say 'my world', as if you're the only one here," Odd snarled in response. The samurai's gaze flickered to the feline coldly before turning back to William.

"I suppose I have grown...used to being alone," the samurai admitted before continuing more harshly. "But that does not answer why you spoke as such."

"I said that because I'm _not_ from this world," William explained, frustration beginning to build in his voice. "I'm from the same one as Jeremy: Earth."

William instantly regretted mentioning he and Jeremy were from the same world as the samurai's eyes hardened and a trace of a scowl flitted across his face.

"Then it is little wonder that you should side with him," the samurai accused, brandishing his katana ever so slightly yet still managing a threatening pose with such a small movement. He turned to look at Odd and Aelita. "And you two? Are you from Jeremy's world, too?"

Aelita shook her head as best she could in the circumstance she was in.

"No, we're not," she managed to choke out. The samurai seemed to take notice of her difficulty in speaking and gave some sort of hand sign to his mirror image. The other being let his katana edge slip slightly away from Aelita's throat. The samurai waved a hand for Aelita to continue. She did so with a slight cough. "We're from Lyoko - like you! I'm from the Forest Sector; Odd's from the Ice Sector."

The samurai frowned slightly at this. "Lyoko? Forest Sector? Ice Sector? I've never heard of them." He put a hand to his chin thoughtfully, however, and continued before anyone else could speak. "Although I suppose I didn't ask for the name of my world...Lyoko, is it? I had gotten used to simply calling it the desert."

"But there's much more than a desert!" Aelita exclaimed, her hands still resting on the dull side of the katana that was held to her throat. "There are four other sectors as well!"

"The Forest and Ice Sectors," the samurai stated, although it might have been a question for affirmation rather than a statement. It was difficult to tell. "And what would this be called," he asked as he gestured with his free hand to their surroundings. "The Desert Sector?"

"Might as well be," William put in. This conversation may have been answering a lot of the samurai's questions but it was answering none of his. The samurai turned his gaze back on the dopplesoldner as if surprised he had spoken. "We just call them those names because we don't know if they have any official names. The only sector that has a real name so far is Sector Five: Carthage."

The samurai hesitated slightly. He looked almost as if he wanted to ask more questions to his captives, but he shook his head ever so slightly and his voice hardened once more.

"That's interesting," he nodded slightly, but William could detect a trace of suspicion in the samurai's voice. "But for all I know they are just stories." He paused briefly as if considering if he should continue. "Still," he announced at last. "That is why I have come here: to hear your side of the story. So tell me," the samurai narrowed his eyes in a silent challenge. "What is it?"

* * *

Jeremy sat at the supercomputer console with his hands to his forehead as he leaned against the parts of the panel that did not contain the keyboard.

"Aelita? Aelita can you please answer?" Jeremy called again through the comm system. He was beginning to become extremely concerned. From what he could tell, Aelita had just walked out of the tower with the others, having apparently forgotten to start unlocking the tower first or even telling Jeremy how long she would be gone. Jeremy could hardly imagine that something bad had happened. After all that would have probably led to Aelita returning to the tower. Unless they had all been taken out at once...

Jeremy shook his head to clear it. No! He was not going to entertain even a notion of that thought. All of them had full life-points when they had exited the tower. The odds of them _all_ getting devirtualized without at least one of them reaching the tower was fairly small. No, Aelita had probably just forgotten to start unlocking the tower. No doubt she was on her way back right now.

At least, that's what Jeremy hoped was going on as he began to restlessly begin his part of the tower unlocking program in hopes Aelita would respond.

* * *

To say Odd was tense and upset would be an understatement. Here Aelita was being held hostage by some fancy dresser with a sword, and William wanted to talk to him! If it wasn't for the fact that the stranger's mirror image was holding that sword against Aelita's throat, Odd would have already leapt onto the newcomer and made sure he regretted messing with them. As William finished explaining to the warrior their side of the story (Odd had to admit there were parts he had not heard before), the warrior glanced around at the assembled group.

"An interesting story," he commented, his composure beginning to really get on Odd's nerves. "Almost as interesting as Xana's."

"And what was Xana's?" Odd snarled at the warrior. They should get this over with. Guardian or not, this guy was bad news if he was teamed up with Xana. The warrior regarded him coolly, just about the opposite of how Odd was regarding him.

"That you were intruders," the warrior said simply. "That this Jeremy friend of yours was a danger to our world and that he means to destroy it."

"That's ridiculous," William protested, and Odd had to agree. He would have voiced the same sentiments had not Aelita's expression caught his eye. It was something Odd could not discern, and the hybrid was surprised that Aelita did not jump to Jeremy's defense and deny the warrior's claim.

"Is it now?" The warrior asked pointedly as he faced William. "From what you've told me of him, Jeremy does indeed wield the power to destroy...Lyoko, as you call it. Even if unintentionally."

"But he won't," Aelita put in softly. The warrior turned to face her curiously as did William and Odd, drawn by the tone in her voice. "Not while any of us are in here." She looked up at the warrior, a pleading look in her eyes. "Not while you're in here. Xana's a danger to everyone. The only way to make sure he's gone is to shut down the supercomputer - and, yes, destroy Lyoko in the process." Odd felt shock cover his face. He had always heard Aelita talk about an end to fighting Xana, but he had not imagined it to end like that. Aelita seemed to since his indecision and shot him a comforting look before turning back to the warrior. "But he would never leave any of us in here. He's already materialized me into the real world. He can do the same to you, and he will if you give him the chance."

The warrior remained silent for a few moments. Odd was just glad that Jeremy wasn't planning to ditch the supercomputer before they were all out. Finally, the warrior spoke up once more.

"An interesting offer," the samurai replied deliberately, hope beginning to flare up in Aelita's eyes. "But this world is real to me, and it is too late to talk anymore now." Hope then seemed to die in Aelita's eyes as she looked beyond Odd, William, and the strange warrior, who had also turned to look. Odd twisted his head around to see what they, now including William as well, were staring at. He caught his breath and gasped at the sight of a massive army of monsters approaching them. And at the head of them was what appeared to be the warrior, or at the very least one of his duplicates.

The time for talk had indeed passed.

* * *

The samurai watched as the army of Xana's monsters grew closer. He had scouted out the force prior to sending his clone to stand with them in his place. There were three groups of a dozen roaches with about as many hornets. Those were only the grunts, though. The real bulk was in the two dozen bloks, half dozen krabs, three walkers, and two iron spheres. Individually or even in their separate groups they would have been no match for the warrior alone. But, of course, he was not alone.

The vast armada of monsters came to a halt in a semi-circle around the small group, and the samurai stepped forward to stand beside his clone and in front of a pair of bloks, who seemed confused at the fact that there was going to be apparently no need for battle. The samurai gave a quick series of hand signals, relaying his instructions. His clones nodded almost imperceptibly.

He turned his gaze back to the strange assortment of beings he had encountered. Both the ones named William and Odd had a look of grim determination on their faces. They knew they would not be able to win and yet they clearly planned to stand their ground regardless. That alone gained them some respect in the his eyes.

The one named Aelita, on the other hand, was a picture of hopelessness. It had no way to fight, and it no doubt had no lack of certainty that it was going to watch its friends die before its very eyes before being taken prisoner by Xana.

"Why are you doing this?" Aelita asked, her voice a mixture of despair and disbelief. The samurai felt a pang of pity course through him. She had no idea what was going to happen.

"I don't trust you," the samurai replied simply as he brandished his sword once more before adding with a gleam in his eyes. "Fortunately for you, I trust Xana even less!"

With that the samurai whirled around and plunged his sword into the eye of the blok to his right before pulling it out, twirling it in his hands, and smoothly whirling back around to backhand stab the blok to his left. Before the two bloks had even exploded, the samurai and his nearest clone had already set on the nearest monsters. The warrior could only hope that he was making the right decision.

* * *

William stared in shock as the bloks next to the samurai almost appeared to explode by themselves due to the speed of the boy's attack. The two samurai were quick to attack the nearest monsters but William knew even a warrior as fast and skilled as the samurai would not last long.

"Come on, Odd!" William shouted to the feline, jerking the hybrid out of his shock. "He's on our side! We have to help him!"

With that the dopplesoldner raised his sword, white energy crawling up the blade. He swung the massive blade just as a group of nearby kankrelats overcame the apparent surprise of the samurai's betrayal. Needless to say, as the energy wave from Zweihänder struck the kankrelats head on, they were unable to launch their attack. Without waiting another second, William joined the battle alongside Odd as he swung Zweihänder left and right while Odd let out volley after volley of laser arrows. In less than a minute, the four warriors had cleared away most of the kankrelats, bloks, and hornets. However, that still left a plethora of other far more powerful monsters to deal with.

* * *

Aelita was probably the most surprised at the samurai's apparently sudden change of heart. One instant, a sword was pressed against her throat by what Aelita could now tell was a clone of the samurai, and the next instant the very same clone was in front of her deflecting stray energy bolt after energy bolt.

Despite her friends' vigor and determination, however, Aelita could still see that the battle would eventually go against them. Odd would eventually run out of arrows and the samurai's clones would all get devirtualized, as one of them already had. Without more help they would not be victorious. Fortunately, Aelita could provide that help. Focusing on the ground beneath the center of the army of monsters, the sound of angelic singing filled the air as Aelita channeled her creativity.

* * *

The samurai sliced through the last of the roaches. There was still a whole army of krabs, walkers, and iron spheres to deal with, though, and the samurai was not confident he and his new, even if temporary, allies would be able to defeat the remaining monsters. While they certainly fought valiantly; they were sloppy and reckless. William seemed to be more of a berserk than anything else, relying on his massive blade to wipe out any and all monsters around him. And while that might work with the smaller foes, it was not as useful against the likes of walkers and iron spheres.

Odd on the other hand seemed to have more of an instinct for self-preservation. That being said, the strange hybrid-like boy apparently had a limited supply of his 'laser arrows'. And they had already run out thanks to the creature's ample use of them early on in the battle. He was clearly not one to ask if a drawn out battle was needed. And while Odd's current method of clawing at the shells of the krabs was obviously irritating the massive monsters, it did little in way of actual harm.

As for Aelita...

The samurai faltered slightly in his attack against the last blok. A strange melodious voice was filling the air. Sending a rapid glance over his shoulder, the samurai was surprised that the pointed-eared being appeared to be singing with one arm outstretched towards the battle. The samurai might have commented on the use, or rather lack thereof, of singing in a battle except for the fact that he could _feel_ the energy surging through the ground and air.

He did not fully comprehend its purpose, however, until the ground in the center of the army of monsters suddenly flickered out of existence spelling the end of the iron spheres and two of the walkers along with half of the krabs and nearly a dozen bloks. Now all that remained was a half dozen krabs, a couple of bloks, and one walker.

The samurai paid dearly for his distraction at the ground suddenly and unceremoniously disappearing as an energy bolt from the blok in front of him struck him straight in the chest and sent him flying backwards, his katana soaring from his hand. He groaned and began to pick himself up, searching for his sword in the process. He began reaching for it when the blok loomed over him, eye charging up for a final blast.

The monster was unable to bring about what would surely be the samurai's demise as a energy bolt slammed into the side of the blok, causing it to tilt over from the force of the impact before exploding. Looking over to the source of the blast, the samurai was surprised to find that it had come from the krab Odd was currently clawing at. The monster had apparently become so irritated at the hybrid boy that it had begun to fire its lasers in any and every direction. 'I guess that does come in handy occasionally,' the samurai thought briefly before rushing forward to the said krab, which was currently shrieking in pain.

Slicing through the monster's legs, the samurai took the brief moment of vision to survey the battlefield. His other clone had finally been destroyed, although it seemed that protection of Aelita was rendered rather null as she appeared to be passed out on the desert sand. Apparently with great power came great strain.

Finishing off the krab as soon as Odd was clear, the two virtual beings turned to where William was dueling with the final monster: the walker. Before the samurai could act, however, two rapid blasts from the walker spelled the end of the clearly brave, if reckless, warrior. With a shout of rage the samurai hurled his katana forward like a spear. The sword pierced right through the walker's head and the monster met its demise soon after. With the last monster dead, the samurai collapsed to his knees in exhaustion and mourning.

"Don't worry about him," Odd's voice came from behind him, as if he had read the samurai's thoughts. "It's alright if _he_ gets devirtualized."

* * *

It was a good thing Jeremy managed to complete his portion of the tower unlocking program or else William might have very well have been stuck in limbo. And given the fact that both Odd and Aelita appeared to be on their last legs, with only a measly ten life-points left, Jeremy doubted they would have been able to rescue the older boy in time.

"What happened to you guys?" Jeremy muttered to himself as he continued to input code even though he knew his friends would be unable to answer. Unfortunately the codes he was using were already useless as long as Aelita was unable to complete the unlocking of the tower from her side. The slight hissing of the door behind him signaled the arrival of William. Jeremy whirled around in his chair to catch sight of a weary-looking William stumble into the lab.

"William!" Jeremy exclaimed in surprise at the sight of the older boy. "What on earth happened to you guys down there?"

"First of all, for the record, it was on Lyoko," William jested wearily before adding more cryptically. "And second, we met a new friend."

"Then I guess you've got a lot of explaining to do," Jeremy replied, crossing his arms in expectation.

* * *

Aelita moaned slightly as she opened her eyes to the gentle blue glow of the interior of the tower. Standing over her were Odd and the samurai. Both had relief in their eyes, but only Odd had the emotion covering his face.

"Aelita, you're awake!" Odd exclaimed enthusiastically. The samurai merely nodded in agreement and held out a hand to help her up. Aelita took it gratefully and pulled herself to her feet with the help of Odd and the samurai. She brushed herself off lightly as she regained her balance.

"What happened?" She asked, her mind somewhat blurry as she looked around. "Where's William?"

"He was...devirtualized?" The samurai replied hesitantly, shooting a questioning look at Odd. "You're friend says there is nothing to worry about."

"That's right," Aelita confirmed as she looked the boy up and down. "If William gets devirtualized then he simply returns to his world. That's not the case with us, of course."

"Of course," the samurai echoed matter-of-factually. He glanced around the tower casually with a hand resting on the hilt of his sword. "There was a loud voice asking for you," he spoke again. "I think it was the one you call Jeremy. His voice is most...disconcerting."

"So I've been told," Aelita replied, shooting a glance at Odd in the process, clearly indicating from whom she had been told that. "He probably wants me to start my end of the tower unlocking program. I presume Odd has told you about it?"

"Yes, indeed," the samurai nodded before adding hesitantly. "Although, I didn't understand much of it. Perhaps you could explain it to me with an...ah...wider vocabulary."

"Hey," Odd protested petulantly. "My vocabulary's wide enough, thank you very much!"

Aelita rolled her eyes at the two boys before walking to the center of the platform and activating the secondary control console. The samurai gripped his sword hilt instinctively in shock as his eyes widened.

"How'd you do that?" He asked incredulously. Aelita shrugged in response.

"All the tower's have these interfaces," she replied to his inquiry. "I'm just able to access them, that's all. I won't be able to start the unlocking program from here, but I can find out something that's no doubt important to you."

"What would that be?" The samurai frowned, clearly not getting where Aelita was going, and so as she entered a line of code she told him.

"Why, your name, of course," Aelita replied. She continued at the sight of shock on the samurai's face. "Your name should be around here somewhere...ah, here it is!"

The samurai glanced eagerly over the pinkette's shoulder. The girl smiled at the sight of the outwardly fierce and no doubt proud warrior awaiting his name as eagerly as a child waiting to open a present.

"What is my name?"

* * *

"His name is Ulrich," Aelita told Jeremy and William as they sat down at the dinner table. "And from what I can tell he's a guardian like me and Odd, except he's been alone a lot longer than either of us."

"That goes without saying," Jeremy pointed out as he picked at his food. "You said he was in the Ice Sector with Odd, right?"

"Yep, and I'll be joining them once supper's over," Aelita added. She hesitated slightly before continuing. "Any word on your summer plans?"

The two boys shared a regretful look.

"I'm afraid we're going to be gone over summer break, Aelita," Jeremy shook his head sadly. "Our parents aren't taking no for an answer, and besides that, I'm not sure Mr. Delmas would be too thrilled at having a couple of students staying over during the summer."

"So we'll be alone?" Aelita asked nervously. William smiled at her reassuringly.

"No you won't be," William comforted the pinkette. "You'll have each other; you, Odd, and Ulrich. You'll be fine. You'll see."

"I hope you're right," Aelita muttered before turning to look at Jeremy. "What will you be working on over the summer?"

Jeremy pondered the question for a second, a finger resting against his chin. This gave Aelita the time to think ruefully that the question was 'what will you be working on' instead of 'will you be working'. Oh well, that was Jeremy for you. At last he seemed to make up his mind.

"I'll be working on the upgrades and Odd's materialization program," he announced finally before adding his explanation. "Until we gather more information, it'll be pointless to work on the superscan. And I won't be able to work on your antivirus program effectively from my laptop."

"Okay, then," Aelita nodded resolutely. "I guess that's that then. You have your projects and I have mine." She paused as an afterthought came to her. "I wonder how Odd and Ulrich are doing right now."

* * *

Ulrich rested his face in his palms as Odd continued to chatter at him.

"Do you ever shut up?" He muttered into his hands. Odd feigned offense at the samurai's words.

"Hey, its not my fault you won't talk!" Odd replied cheerfully. "Besides, Aelita said I should get to know you!"

"Know me?" Ulrich exclaimed in disbelief. "How are you supposed to get to know me if you're the one doing all the talking? Besides, seems more like she told you to latch onto me instead."

"Come on, relax!" Odd said cheerfully. "I told you, I'm totally cool, and we're going to have to get to know each other eventually. You'll see, by the end of the day, you won't be able to do without me!"

Ulrich rested his face back into his palms with another groan. He was beginning to regret his decision to accompany Odd and Aelita back to the Ice Sector, even if it was much safer than his home at the moment. But made that decision he had, and now all he could do was hope that whatever a day was, that it was a very _long_ time indeed.

_The geisha walked down the rocky land bridge that led deeper into the Silent Plateau and towards the mountain range's tower. The name for the place had been easy, especially with the fact that the monsters had begun ignoring her completely. Not that she was complaining of course but an explanation would have been nice. Instead all she was left with was another mystery as she made her way closer and closer to the tower that lay at the heart of the Silent Plateau. As she rounded the side of the mountain she was currently walking next to, the geisha saw the familiar sight of a tower looming over the surrounding clearing. The geisha began to approach the tower, eager to see if she could get any useful information out of it, when she was brought to a cold stop. Stepping out from behind the tower and flanking it were two executioners. She whipped out her fans in preparation for battle. So much for the Silent Plateau then. __**"There is no need for that."**__ An eerily familiar voice anchored her to the spot as the geisha spotted a rippling in the wall at the base of the tower. Emerging from the tower was a being that looked almost like herself, for she had seen her reflection before. But unlike her, this geisha had pale grey skin, blood red eyes, and was dressed exclusively in maroon and black. Slowly the being approached her and as she neared, the geisha could see the Mark of the Mountains emblazoned on her double's forehead. Stopping in front of the geisha, the duplicate regarded her for a few seconds more before finally speaking once again. "__**We have been...expecting you. We have much to...discuss.**__"_

**Post Story Author's Note: So I hope you've all enjoyed this latest installment. Please keep the reviews coming, and I would especially appreciate feedback on my characterizations of Ulrich and Xana (especially Xana, it can be so hard to give a silent villain like him an actual voice, however briefly). Now before I conclude this, I should inform you that I won't be updating for at least ten days, as I will be without access to a computer (the main reason I felt so pressed to get this chapter out). So with that in mind, thank you in advance for your reviews, and until next time, readers, where Aelita, Odd, and Ulrich will have to deal with Lyoko be themselves.  
**

**Post Author's Note Joke: Let's hope they don't all kill each other.**


	15. Chapter 15

**Author's Note: My sincerest apologies to all of you: I had not meant for this to end up as a half month long hiatus. Anyways, I've finally got this chapter out. So without further ado, thank you all so much for your reviews. As always they have spurred me on to continue writing (or rather continue writing in as timely a manner as possible), and, yes, my dear guest reviewer, Ulrich will indeed have his twin katanas - and, in fact, before you ask, they will all have their Season 4 upgrades (barring William of course for obvious reasons). So with no more questions (at least none that I shall answer at this time), I hope you enjoy this latest installment.**

**Now on with the story...**

_The geisha - or perhaps it should be Yumi, as Xana had told her - sat on the edge of a cliff that jutted out from one of the sparse mountains of the Silent Plateau. For a time she had absentmindedly explored the region, even working on a cartouche, trying to give her mind some time to process what she had been told by the enigmatic being that called itself Xana. Now, however, she sat on the edge of the cliff, staring down into the mists as she pondered all she had learned from the strange entity. A movement in the corner of her eye briefly stole her attention away from her musings, but the thief, being a lone blok standing atop a lower peak, hastily gave it back and the geisha returned to her thoughts. The monster - no, creature - was of little concern to the girl. Be it a blok or something else, ever since she had left Xana's presence - or at least that of her doppleganger's - she had been followed and watched. Her lack of concern, or even acknowledgement, came from the fact that Xana had told Yumi it would do as such. Once again the geisha was both puzzled and impressed by the being's at least apparent forthrightness. Yumi shook her head to dispel the thought, however. Who was she to judge what was and was not unusual about that, though? After all, she could hardly be considered either forthright or secretive - there had never been anyone else until now to be either. Still, the geisha reasoned with herself, until she saw proof of some of Xana's claims, they were just words and she should consider them cautiously. Yumi wrenched herself away from her thoughts of the mysterious being and instead directed her focus to what it had said. Even now, spans after having met the entity, its words still whirled through Yumi's mind like a vortex. The words echoing throughout her head but barely sounding real. Lyoko. Earth. Guardian. Sectors. Programs. Wanderers. The words seemed to blur until Yumi took a deep breath and focused her mind. She knew her indecision and confusion on the matter came from ignorance - she still had more questions than answers. For once, though, the geisha had a way to rectify that. Building up her resolve, Yumi got to her feet and, with a look of determination chiseled onto her face, began to head back down the mountain. It was time to speak with Xana once more._

"So I was thinking," Odd rambled distractedly to the brunette that sat nearby on a hard chunk of ice, a scowl seemingly permanently carved into his face. "Since you're going to be here a while - at the very least until we get that activated tower unlocked or what have you - I figure it's probably best that you get to know your way around the Ice Sector. What do ya say to that, huh?"

Ulrich turned his glare, previously fixed on the frozen landscape, towards the enthusiastic feline. With a scowl still etched on his countenance, the samurai replied in a gruff tone, "Normally I'd say that was a great idea - even if it came from you," he added, his voice edged with a bilious tone. "Except for the inevitable part where _you_ offer to give me the tour."

"And what's wrong with that?" Odd replied grinning, with what the samurai could swear was a hint of mischief in the hybrid's strange, shimmering amber eyes. "I mean, who wouldn't want to be taken on a grand tour of the Ice Sector by the one and only, Odd!"

"Uh. Me," Ulrich deadpanned, raising his right hand slightly to make his point. Contrary to his hopes, however, this did not seem to dispirit the blond in the slightest. In fact, much to the samurai's chagrin, it almost seemed to _encourage_ him further instead.

"Now why's that?" Odd grinned cheekily, feigning thought as he tapped his chin with a clawed finger. "You know if I didn't know any better, I'd say you didn't like me," he continued with a smirk, seeming to either ignore or just not notice Ulrich's eyes roll in annoyance. "I mean, what possible reason could anyone have _not_ to like me? I mean, I am _me_ after all."

"Huh, that's putting it lightly," Ulrich snorted derisively before adding dryly. "Do the words 'never shut up' ring a bell, perhaps?"

"Not in the slightest," Odd crowed triumphantly, his grin widening further across his face, and somehow the samurai got the distinct feeling that the hybrid knew very well what he was talking about. Ulrich sighed for what felt to be the thousandth time. The brunette quickly regretted doing so, wincing mentally as the exasperated exhale drew another stream of comments from Odd.

"Hey, what's with you, anyways?" Odd questioned curiously with a playful grin, although a hint of actual concern edged its way through the feline's voice. Ulrich's frown lessened somewhat as he inclined his head towards the hybrid and studied the blond curiously. It was not the first time Ulrich had detected what seemed to be authentic concern for him in one or more of his new allies.

"Nothing," Ulrich replied impassively. That was far from the truth, however, and Odd seemed to know that, despite the samurai's best efforts to cover it up.

"Yeah, and I'm a bright, orange ice cube," Odd jested pointedly, the markings on his face quirking in a way which implied both humor and genuine solicitude. "Seriously, though, are you always this grumpy, or is something up?"

"I'm not...," Ulrich's protest died in his throat at the sight of Odd's knowing smirk, and the samurai's own realization of the trap he had fallen into. Ulrich's countenance appeared to be confused as to whether to scowl more or scowl less as he glared once again at the hybrid. Attempting a new course, the samurai continued, deciding that it might be better to get some things out into the open. "It's just that I've never really been away from the desert, and now I'm stuck in this sun-forsaken wasteland for who knows how long."

"First off, I think you mean sun-forsaken _wonderland_," Odd corrected blithely as he held up a finger matter-of-factually. "And second, we all know how long you're going to be 'stuck' here - a couple of months!"

"Oh yeah?" The samurai drawled condescendingly. "And do you even know what a month is?"

Ulrich had to hold back a smirk as his question, for once, caught the hybrid up short. Odd was silent for a few moments, a rare ponderous look shifting across his face. Unfortunately for Ulrich, the moment of silence was short-lived and Odd quickly shrugged off his question with a wave of his hand.

"I dunno know - but I bet Aelita does. She's always keeping up with stuff like that," Odd reasoned partially to himself. A frown, unsurprisingly, stole across Ulrich's face as he glanced around the icy clearing which surrounded their tower as he searched for a sign of the mysterious, pink-haired elf.

"Where is Aelita, anyways?" Ulrich asked aloud, partially to himself and partially to Odd as he sensed a way to steer their conversation in another direction. If Odd noticed the intentional change in topic, though, he didn't mention it. Instead, he gave a slight shrug and waved lazily in the direction of what Ulrich presumed was the Forest Sector.

"Oh, she's in her tower," he remarked causally, and Ulrich got the sense that when the two other virtual beings weren't together, Aelita was almost assuredly in the aforementioned location. "Said she had some program or something to work on."

"Oh really?" Ulrich perked up at this. "What kind of program?" Ever since he had discovered the true nature of his world, he had always been curious about the 'programs' which seemed to pervade every aspect of Lyoko. Unfortunately, Odd apparently did not share even a fraction of the samurai's, albeit casual, curiosity on the subject, and so shrugged in reply.

"I dunno. Maybe that superscan thing she used to always talk about." At this the hybrid appeared pensive and a slight frown of concentration made its way across his features, much to Ulrich's surprise. He could not recall a moment since they had met that the feline had ever truly appeared thoughtful, or even serious for that matter. His moment of contemplation did last too long before he gave another shrug, this time more to himself, before elaborating on the subject to Ulrich. "Still, come to think about it, I don't think either she or Jeremy has been working on it too much lately - well, except for unlocking the towers that is."

"Well, what else could she be working on?" Ulrich was pleased to find that, for once, he was _not_ constantly annoyed with having a conversation with Odd. Hopefully that would become a norm rather than the exception - it would make his stay here much more pleasant.

"Who knows?" Odd replied nonchalantly before a grin spread across his face and his eyes lit up with an idea. Ulrich found himself wincing mentally, quite sure that the hybrid was going to announce some ridiculous and no doubt hair-brained scheme of his. Surprisingly, when the samurai heard the idea, he actually found he liked the thought of it. "Maybe she's working on a vehicle for you. You know, like the ones we ride!"

This brought a pause to the samurai as he considered the thought. If he were honest, it was indeed an appealing one. He had seen the self-named Lyoko Wanderers on their vehicles during the short time prior to the departure of Jeremy and William. And although he could almost match the speeds of any of the vehicles, he had to acknowledge that there was something alluring about the thought of riding one of them - especially the one-wheeled vehicle called the overbike.

"You really think so?" He asked after a second. Odd shrugged again and Ulrich was beginning to feel irritated at how many times the feline had done so. 'Maybe I _am_ grumpy,' he mused ruefully as the hybrid replied.

"Who knows? One could hope though," A thought seemed to cross Odd's mind before lighting his face up once more. Ulrich wondered what scheme the feline had concocted this time. "Hey! If you do get a vehicle then that means we can race!"

Ulrich gave a soft chuckle. "Huh, you don't want to race me with or without a vehicle, trust me." Odd glanced at the samurai impishly, a self-confident smirked plastered across his face.

"Oh, so does that mean you're a sore loser, then, because I could totally see that," Odd grinned cheekily and Ulrich shot a glare in his direction. Unlike his previous ones, though, this glare had a trace of competition and enthusiasm in it.

"Don't know," Ulrich deadpanned. "Never lost before."

"Well then, guess you've never raced me!" Odd boasted eagerly. Ulrich could see that the feline was just begging for competition, and for once he was more than willing to oblige the exuberant blond. With a gleam in his eyes and the trace of a smirk on his lips, the samurai accepted the silent challenge.

"Alright, then - you're on!"

* * *

Aelita let out a tired sigh, pressing her hands to her forehead as she did so. She had to admit: she had not expected that programming a weapon for herself would take so much work, and yet it did. To be fair, of course, neither she nor Jeremy had ever had to program a weapon - not even for William, as the supercomputer took care of that when the boy was first virtualized, and the only other programs either of them had made that actually created something within Lyoko were the vehicles.

"Who'da thought programming a weaponized energy field would be more complex than programming a few vehicles and all the virtual physics that go along with them?" Aelita muttered to herself. At the rate she was going she would be done in a couple months - just in time for summer break to end. At that thought she shrugged, at least she would be able to finish the program in time to surprise Jeremy. As the thought of her friend crossed her mind, Aelita felt a mix of emotions wash over her. A part of her, a small part mind you - for she knew her friend was far from harm - was concerned for his well being as a tiny voice nagged at her from the back of her mind that Xana might find away to strike at him. Aelita forced herself to think clear thoughts, however, as she knew that even if Xana found a way to attack Jeremy it would most certainly require an activated tower. And deactivating towers, of course, was her specialty. But concern for Jeremy was not the only feeling that flowed through the virtual elf's mind. She was happy that he could spend time with his parents and, hopefully, finally experience some sort of relaxation. And of course she felt the bitter and hollow twinge of loneliness at his absence. Ever since they had met the two had rarely been out of contact for long. Fortunately the girl's loneliness was alleviated by the presence of Odd and the newly found Ulrich.

Aelita glanced absentmindedly to the wall of her tower, as if she could see straight through it and all the way to wherever Odd and Ulrich were at. She then shifted her gaze between the interface panel and the wall of the tower a few times before rolling her shoulders in a small, weary shrug. If she was being honest with herself, she needed a break. She had been working nonstop on this program for hours now and her eyes had started to glaze over at the monotony, not to mention the repetitive nature of portions of the code, which varied just enough so that she would be unable to copy them or simply create a method from them but were also similar enough so as to invoke a dull, tedious boredom in Aelita's mind.

Her decision made, Aelita deactivated the interface panel - no need to have it up and running for somebody to stumble across, especially if that someone was Odd. With her work saved, Aelita made her way across the platform and stood before the dark chasm that would lead to the Ice Sector. Closing her eyes and inhaling softly, Aelita spread out her arms and let herself fall into the void below. Once she reached the Ice Sector, there was something she had been meaning to try ever since summer break had begun.

* * *

The air whipped across the hybrid's body as he soared through the air on the overboard, his tail fluttering behind him in a chaotic dance. Leaning forward ever so slightly, Odd gunned the acceleration on the overboard even as Ulrich did likewise with the overbike, to which the stoic samurai had taken an instant liking to. At present, the two virtual beings were level with each other as they strove for the lead while navigating through the winding passages of the Ice Bridges. Despite being tied at the moment, Odd swiveled his head towards his companion to issue a cocky quip, accompanied by an equally self-confident smirk.

"Not so fast now are you?" Odd grinned ecstatically. Prior to their race involving the two vehicles, the two boys had decided to race on foot. And although Odd was admittedly far faster than Aelita or even William, Ulrich was much more so - even when not utilizing his ability to run at super-speed. To say that this had surprised the hybrid was an understatement, as even when racing through a course filled with various obstacles the samurai had still managed to beat him. And while it did disappoint him slightly to lose, it had also stoked the fires of his competitive spirit, something that had not happened too often as of late - especially with William gone.

"Ha! We'll see about that!" Ulrich hollered back with what was as close to enthusiasm as Odd had ever heard come from the quiet brunette. With that said, the samurai pushed the overbike even further in short order, and Odd briefly wondered if either of their vehicles had some sort of limit to how fast they could go. He shrugged the thought away, however, as he urged his own to accelerate faster. If either of the vehicles broke or something like that then he could always just materialize another one.

With that worrisome thought out of his mind, Odd let out a whoop that consisted of equal mixes of exhilaration and victory as he began to pull ahead of Ulrich.

"Oh no you don't," Odd barely heard the samurai mutter as the wind rushed past his ears, nearly drowning out all other sounds altogether.

* * *

The walls of the Ice Sector way-tower rippling from within, Aelita stepped out of the massive structure. A quick glance around told her that neither Odd nor Ulrich were in the immediate vicinity of the tower.

'I wonder if Odd finally convinced Ulrich to go on that tour,' Aelita wondered curiously. She shook her head wryly as she re-entered the way-tower. Knowing even as little as she did about the stoic and often withdrawn warrior, Aelita was fairly certain this was not the case. No, the more likely scenario was that Ulrich had been chased away by Odd's constant chatter - which, despite not bothering Aelita in the slightest, was sure to irritate their new introspective friend, and Aelita doubted little that such an exchange would have easily led to the samurai storming off. Odd, on the other hand, probably either followed Ulrich or simply got bored from the following lack of company and wandered off.

Activating the lower platform's interface, the girl was surprised to find that both the overbike and overboard had both been materialized. 'I wonder what they could be up to?' Aelita wondered silently as she input a few more commands that would allow her to locate the two vehicles. Unsurprisingly, the map displayed the two vehicles side by side in the portion of the Ice Sector Odd had named the Ice Bridges. The fact that they were together did not surprise her - after all she had not yet taught Ulrich how to materialize the vehicles, and she had little doubt that if Odd had attempted to teach the samurai how to do so then the only result would be a rather disastrous one. She shook her head gently as she brought up the overwing's program. How could an artificial intelligence possibly be so bad at programming as Odd was?

The answer to this question proved more illusive when Aelita found the overwing's program to be partially bugged up once more. She sighed to herself softly - at least this time the damage was easily repairable, but still, "Odd, how much different can materializing the overbike be than the overboard?" The hybrid, obviously, was not around to answer the virtual elf's question. Brow knitted in concentration, Aelita quickly finished repairing the vehicle's program in a matter of minutes and soon the overwing appeared outside of the tower. Phasing through the wall of the massive structure once again, Aelita hopped onto the overwing and sped off towards the Ice Bridges, all the while wondering what the boys could possibly be up to. Considering the fact that their vehicles had been going rather fast and were side by side, Aelita had little doubt that it was some sort of competition.

* * *

Ulrich leaned sharply to the left, swerving the overbike around an ice column, narrowly avoiding a collision with the frozen structure. The danger of a painful impact removed for the present, the samurai stole himself to glance sideways at Odd, who was just as narrowly avoiding his own various ice columns, except for him the close calls appeared to be intentional. Bobbing and weaving through a patch of towering frozen spikes, the feline smirked cockily at Ulrich.

"Had enough yet? You almost wrecked the overbike back there!" Odd yelled cheekily, his eyes glittering with laughter and mischief. Ulrich smoothly navigated through a maze of his own before turning his head slightly and inclining it towards Odd to issue a retort.

"No more than you've almost wrecked the overboard a few dozen times!" Ulrich huffed indignantly. In all honesty he was sure that the hybrid had far better control of his vehicle. Ulrich, on the other hand, was still getting used to the feel of his vehicle, having never ridden the overbike, or indeed any other vehicle, before. Of course, he was not about to let Odd know that. With that in mind, Ulrich twisted the handles on the overbike and gunned it forward; the finish line, if it could be called such being merely an elongated scratch in the ice, was fast approaching.

"Ha! Wrecked? I'll have you know that it's called _style_," Odd riposted indignantly, gesturing to himself with a thumb. Ulrich gave the slightest roll of his eyes and was about to make his own retort to that when something else caught his attention.

Ulrich narrowed his eyes as the finish line came into sight and both he and Odd shot out of the ice canyon they had been racing through mere moments before. Free of the constant obstacles, Ulrich began to gain ground on Odd, letting himself have a small smirk as he did so. Now that he was on the level plain of ice that surrounded the plateau of the Ice Bridges, the samurai could now focus all of his attention on pulling ahead of Odd.

The next few minutes were a blur in his mind - composed of half-remembered images of the icy landscape, fleeting glances towards his companion, and the seemingly all encompassing sight of the finish line. At last the race came to an end as Ulrich crossed the finish line on the overbike mere fractions of a moment before Odd accomplished the same feat with the overboard. Ulrich slammed on the brakes, leaning sideways so as to rotate his vehicle to be horizontal to Odd. The overbike skidded for some ways, its momentum still carrying it onwards, before finally screeching to a halt on the icy ground. Odd reigned in the overboard in similar fashion, drawing it to a halt far faster than the overbike due to its nature as a hover board. Ulrich panted slightly at the exhilaration of the race as he twisted in his seat to face Odd.

"You were saying?" Ulrich asked triumphantly, raising an eyebrow smugly and smirking. Odd looked a bit nonplussed, a rare occurrence to say the least. As the feline opened his mouth to reply, however, a hesitant look on his face, a soft, chiming voice interrupted him.

* * *

"Well, you actually got Odd to be quiet for a few seconds," Aelita teased the feline with a soft grin while simultaneously praising the samurai. "That has to be a record, right?"

"Aelita," Ulrich stated, although Aelita sensed that coming from him this was the equivalent of an exclamation of surprise. Odd, more used to her sudden appearances, looked relatively unperturbed, well, except from her quip of course.

"Oh, ha, ha, very funny," Odd drawled. He began to say more but suddenly his eyes darted around as if looking for something. Nervously, he asked, "Uh, where's the overwing?"

"The overwing?" Aelita deadpanned, holding back a smirk at the panic in Odd's face. She then made a casual gesture with her thumb indicating the small ice column behind her "Oh, it's around the corner."

"Phew," Odd sighed in relief, although he appeared somewhat annoyed at the scare Aelita had no doubt given him. "I thought I might have bugged it up again."

"Oh, no, you did, Odd. You did," Aelita casually scolded as she walked over to the two boys. Standing in front of Odd, she put her hands on her hips. "Seriously, how are you so bad with programs? You're made of them for crying out loud!"

"Hey, just because I'm made of them doesn't mean I know how to do...whatever it is you do with them," Odd spread his hands out in protest. Ulrich had the faintest of smirks as he watched the elf and the feline continue to squabble back and forth.

"So? You live in a _super_computer! You should know at least the basics!"

"Well, yeah, I do."

"Only because I taught them to you," Aelita pointed out. "And you're horrible at it."

"So?" Odd shrugged. "Humans are made of DNA, right? You don't see William or Jeremy programming it...or whatever you do with DNA." The feline paused contemplatively for a moment before amending, "Well, maybe Jeremy does - but I'm pretty sure William doesn't have a clue!"

"Odd, sometimes you're just unbearable," Aelita rolled her eyes in exasperation. And quite frankly, Ulrich could sympathize with the feeling.

"And you are taking this way to seriously," Odd replied lightly, which earned him a glare from Aelita.

"Only because _I'm_ the one stuck reprogramming the overwing every time _you_ mess it up! And you don't even mess it up by materializing it! You do it by materializing the other vehicles! How do you even manage to do that?"

Ulrich began to get the feeling that this happened quite often with these two and could stretch on for a very, very long time. Add on to that the fact that the samurai was pretty sure Aelita had _not_ come here to bicker with Odd, and it meant someone was going to have to intervene. And seeing as he was the only other person there, then it would have to be him.

"Well, I'm sure that's an interesting question," Ulrich interrupted the quarrelsome pair, who glanced over at him with mild surprise. The samurai guessed they had almost forgotten he was there. He shrugged mentally. If he was honest, he preferred it that way. He stepped forward and continued, "But I have a feeling that's not why you came."

Ulrich let the silent question of "Why did you come?" hang in the air, feeling it would be somewhat rude to just blurt it out. Aelita looked a bit dazed for a few seconds before gathering her thoughts and replying to the unspoken question.

"Well, I was looking for you two, actually," Aelita said. Ulrich motioned for her to elaborate. After all, why else would she be here if she had _not_ been looking for them? Aelita took the gesture in stride and continued, "Since we have a couple of months until Jeremy and William get back, I was thinking we could unlock the rest of the unactivated towers in the Ice Sector."

Odd's head jerked over to stare at Aelita in confusion. Ulrich, noting the sudden movement, was curious to as what it could mean.

"But I thought we needed Jeremy on the other end," Odd burst out, his voice making well known his puzzlement. "You know, because the towers are 'bridges between Lyoko and the real world' and all that."

To Ulrich's surprise, and Odd's, Aelita nodded in affirmation.

"That's right, Odd, we do need Jeremy on the other side to unlock the tower," Aelita replied. Odd and Ulrich shared a glance before turning back to Aelita. "But only to unlock the towers _completely_. From Lyoko I can unlock our half - I've been working on a program that will work autonomously to this end. Once Jeremy gets back, all he'll have to do is make a similar program and unlock the towers from his end. Piece of cake."

"'Piece of cake'?" Ulrich frowned at the expression, having no idea as to what it meant yet feeling that it was strangely familiar. This time Odd jumped in with the explanation.

"It means something is gonna be really easy," Odd explained emphatically. "It's one of those weird sayings they have on Earth."

"I see," Ulrich commented, continuing before Odd could elaborate on the subject. "So are we unlocking the towers now then?"

"Well, not all of them," Aelita let out a puff of laughter before explaining further. "Each tower requires a different set of instructions to be unlocked from either side. That's why we haven't been just deactivating the towers right and left: it takes time to make the programs."

"Alright, then," Ulrich nodded brusquely. He had been hoping that the task would be a quick one. Of course, no matter how long it took them to unlock the towers, or to partially do so at least, they would still have to wait for Jeremy's return. "Which tower do we unlock first."

"Tower Three," Aelita replied simply then, seeing the puzzled look on Odd's face, elaborated. "The tower in the Ice Catacombs," then, noting Ulrich's equal lack of comprehension at even this, explained further. "The Ice Catacombs are just south of here."

Ulrich nodded tersely before walking back over to the overbike and mounting it. Turning to his companions, he said simply, "Well? We going or not?"

Aelita and Odd shared a quick glance before mounting their own vehicles, the overwing and overboard, respectively.

"Alright, let's go to Ice Catacombs," Aelita announced, bemused in a small part by Ulrich's stern determination. "Lead the way, Odd."

"My pleasure," Odd replied gleefully, and with that the trio headed out of the Ice Bridges and across the frozen plains that would eventually take them to the twists and turns that lay within the labyrinth that surrounded their goal.

* * *

Odd smoothly glided over the icy landscape with the overboard as he guided his friends, although whether Ulrich would agree with that term Odd was unsure of - he liked to think that the samurai would, though. The motley group had been traveling for a while by the time they arrived beneath the shadow of the massive mesa that contained within it the Ice Catacombs. Keen eyes noting the nearest entrance, for there were many, Odd dipped the overboard down towards the ground before swiveling the vehicle to a graceful stop.

"Alright, we're here," Odd informed his friends confidently, although his confidence was partially feigned. He had not often gone into the Ice Catacombs before he had met the Lyoko Wanderers, and since then he had not entered them. Recalling his first time in the labyrinthine cave system, Odd hoped that this time would not be a repeat. 'Well,' he consoled himself silently. 'At least all your drawings will still be there - so it's not like we'll get totally lost.'

"Let's go then," Ulrich insisted, determination hardening his voice as he stepped forward to enter the winding ice caves. Odd held out a paw in front of the samurai to stop him.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Odd cut in quickly as he stepped in front of Ulrich to prevent him from walking further. A glimmer of frustration and annoyance crossed Ulrich's face, but before the samurai could issue a sharp retort Odd continued on. "Have you ever been inside a maze before?"

"Yes, I have," Ulrich replied sharply. Odd was taken back by the samurai's harsh, impatient tone. Apparently it didn't take much to put the warrior in a bad mood. "And I made it out of there just fine."

"Oh yeah?" Odd huffed biliously, scooting to the side to block Ulrich once again, as the samurai had made an attempt to push past the stubborn feline. "And how long did it take you to do that?"

This brought the samurai up short, and he paused for a moment. Odd could hear a slight intake of breath as Ulrich considered his answer. Finally, the samurai admitted tersely, "A while."

"Exactly," Odd jabbed Ulrich in the chest with a clawed finger. "And we don't have 'a while'. Especially not with what's in these caves."

"What are in these caves?" Aelita asked curiously from the sidelines. Odd glanced over Ulrich's shoulder, a feat he just barely managed, before giving a light shrug.

"Monsters, entire corridors filled with reflective ice, underground rivers, so on and so forth," Odd listed casually. "It's not the kind of place you want to get lost in. Trust me."

Ulrich looked as if he were about to issue a withering sally, but reigned in the impulse in short order. After remaining silent for some time, he nodded in agreement.

"Very well, I'll do it your way."

"Good, it'll be best if we stick together," Odd breathed in relief. He could not, however, shake the slight feeling of irritation at the tone the samurai had used. With a slight start, the hybrid realized that this was the first time he had been genuinely annoyed at Ulrich. He shook the thought away. After he had gotten to know Aelita, they had argued a lot and there were times - although not often - that he had felt vexed towards the pink-haired elf. The fact that he felt similarly with Ulrich probably simply meant they were getting to know each other better. Liking the sound of that, Odd decided to keep that train of thought with him.

"Well, when you're ready," Aelita's demure voice shook him from his thoughts gently. Sending a quick glance to both her and Ulrich, Odd nodded in resolution and stepped towards the entrance to the ice caves, his two companions following close behind.

* * *

Ulrich followed Odd warily through the corridor of ice. It had been several twists and turns since they had entered into the so-called Ice Catacombs. If Ulrich were on his own right now, he would have been completely lost - not that he would admit it of course. This was the reason that, at every turn, every twist, every fork in the tunnel, he drew his saber and slashed a quick gash into the ice - which he had to admit was far easier than cutting into solid stone. When Odd had asked about this, the samurai had merely replied, "Just in case."

"What?" The feline had grinned cheekily. "Afraid I won't be able to get us to the tower?"

"No," Ulrich replied stolidly. "Afraid you won't be able to get us _out_."

"Some people," Odd shook his head in mock exasperation before leaning down and running a hand across the bottom of a turn in the passage. "They just have no faith."

Ulrich frowned - not at the feline's comment but at his actions. Narrowing his eyes to better get a glimpse of what Odd was searching for, Ulrich was surprised to catch sight of a claw mark or rather three claw marks that ran parallel to each other. Apparently Odd was smarter than the samurai thought. Unfortunately Odd seemed to realize Ulrich's train of thought and looked up at the brunette with a smirk.

"What? You think I just wandered around here until I just happened to get out?" The question was partially in jest but even so Ulrich could sense a hint of resentment.

"Well, yes to be honest," Ulrich replied bluntly, scolding himself slightly for underestimating the hybrid. "I didn't really expect you to...you know, think ahead."

Odd's face twisted with indignance for a moment before he shrugged sheepishly and admitted, "Well, to be fair I _did_ spend a long time wandering around before I started marking the walls. That was _before_ I'd decided to call it the Ice Catacombs."

"You guys do realize that catacombs is not synonymous with labyrinth, right?" Aelita interjected suddenly, the expression on her face clearly indicating that she had been holding in this inquiry for as long as possible. The two boys, however, simply stared at her, not understanding what she meant.

"What do you mean?" Odd asked puzzled as he shared a glance with Ulrich, who was equally confused. From what Ulrich had heard of the word, catacomb did indeed seem to indicate a maze.

"Never mind," Aelita sighed before muttering. "I'll tell you later."

Ulrich opened his mouth to ask a question of his own but was prevented from doing so by an all too familiar buzzing.

"Wazps!" Odd exclaimed, bolting up straight and cocking his right paw, holding it steady with his left as he aimed it in the direction of the noise. Realizing that the hornets were coming from behind them, Ulrich instinctively drew his sword and stood protectively in front of Aelita, who likewise backed away to give him more room for maneuvering. Ulrich tried to determine how many of the miserable flying creatures there were but the sound echoed off the crystalline walls of the tunnel. Odd, sensing the samurai's frustration, answered the question for him. "Three wazps incoming!"

"How long did you spend wandering around in here, anyways?" Ulrich asked, raising a quizzical eyebrow. The feline would have had to have stayed within this labyrinth for some time in order to sort out the amalgam of noises that assaulted their ears.

"Longer than I'd liked to," Odd replied with a note of embarrassment before cocking his wrist once more as a new sound filled the air and six monsters, three hornets and three kankrelats, rounded the bend they had only recently passed. "Laser arrow!" Odd shouted without hesitation.

Even as the deadly projectiles shot from the feline, Ulrich surged forward, mentally triggering his super-sprint. Drawing his katana in the blink of an eye, the samurai cut through the nearest of the kankrelats even as Odd's arrows decimated a pair of wazps. The monsters exploded in a shower of sparks as both guardians approached the remaining kankrelats and hornet, which despite the cramped space appeared to have little problem maneuvering.

"That's two for me and one for you," Odd gloated cheekily, clawing his way halfway up the side of the tunnel in order to twist around to avoid a volley of laser bolts from the monsters. Ulrich, of course, merely deflected the laser bolts that soared in his direction. One of the energy bolts deflected from his katana, impacting the remaining hornet.

"I believe _that_ makes us even," Ulrich retorted coolly before taking advantage of the lull in laser fire to whip around and plunge his sword into the nearest kankrelat, its counterpart skittering away as its friend exploded. "And_ that_ puts me in the lead."

"Huh, show-off," Odd huffed as he landed on the frozen floor of the tunnel, rolling to avoid a laser blast from the remaining kankrelat before finishing the miserable pest off with a laser arrow.

"No more than you are," Aelita chided softly, beating Ulrich to the punch. "Seriously, what is it with boys and competition, anyways?" Aelita winked coyly at the feline and samurai as she walked past them and into the tunnel Odd had been about to lead them into prior to the monsters' attack. Turning at the juncture to face Ulrich and Odd, Aelita gestured to the path before them, a hand on one hip, "Well, you coming?"

Ulrich shared a look with Odd before both shrugged and started after Aelita, Ulrich taking up the rear to guard against any further attacks while Odd rushed to catch up with the digital elf.

* * *

Aelita shook her head gently at the two boys walking behind her. Their journey through the Ice Catacombs had been uneventful since their encounter with the monsters. And during that lull of activity, Odd and Ulrich had taken to discussing - or rather borderline arguing - who was the better monster fighter. They no doubt would have continued for much longer had not Aelita interrupted them by stopping abruptly.

"Whoa! Hey, you wanna tell us before you stop like that?" Odd exclaimed after bumping into the pinkette, being caught of guard by her sudden stop. Any further retort he might have had died before reaching his lips. "Oh," was all he had to say, viewing the corridors in front of him - and the dozens of Aelita's, Odd's, and Ulrich's that were in it.

"What in the-?" Ulrich began before breaking off with an irritated exclamation as he realized where they were. "I thought you said we were going to avoid this place!"

"Well...we were," Odd replied, his face twisting in concentration. "We must have made a wrong turn somewhere."

"Well, too late worrying about that," Aelita interjected quickly, seeing that Ulrich was preparing a biting sally to Odd's admission. 'He has some major anger management problems', Aelita thought to herself wryly. 'And Odd says _I'm_ the one with the temper!'

"Can we go through?" She asked out loud. Odd gazed critically at the room, which was already starting to give Aelita a mild headache. After a moment he shrugged.

"Sure, if you don't mind bumping into the walls every few seconds," Odd answered with an equal mix of dry humor and sarcasm.

"Then I guess we're going through," Aelita shrugged, stepping forward. And immediately smacking right into one of the more transparent sheets of ice. The virtual elf let out a small cry of surprise and indignance as she stumbled backwards, shaking her head slightly.

"Told ya," Odd told her apologetically as he too stepped forward. Unlike Aelita, however, Odd put his paws out in front of him to feel along the crystalline surfaces that varied between near transparency and reflectivity. "Follow me - carefully."

With that in mind, Aelita began to press her hands against the sides of the cave and follow Odd, with Ulrich not far behind. As they made their way through the mind-twisting labyrinth, Aelita would occasionally hear the samurai mutter something incomprehensible whenever he encountered an unexpected jut of ice. Glancing over to what she thought was Odd, Aelita asked, "How close are we to the end?"

"No idea," Odd's voice came from her left and Aelita whirled in that direction - she had apparently been 'following' one of Odd's reflections. "I've never really been able to figure out all the quirks to this place - and I even tried making marks on the ice!"

"And that didn't work, why?" Ulrich asked blankly, albeit with genuine curiosity. Odd shrugged and gave a rueful looks to the samurai.

"Every time I made a mark it was reflected half a dozen other times all over the place," Odd answered before something caught his eye and he promptly pointed a clawed finger to the ground. "See?"

Aelita and Ulrich glanced down to where the hybrid was pointing and indeed Aelita could make out a row of scratch marks as well as their more than numerous reflections. No doubt seeing the realization dawn on the faces, Odd simply reaffirmed what he had said before, "What did I tell you? Reflected."

Standing back up, Odd began to walk forward deeper into the ice cave. Aelita began to follow but abruptly jumped in surprise at a frustrated outburst from Ulrich and an accompanying thud. Confused by the multitude of Odds, Ulrich had mistakenly believed he had been following the feline only to run smack dab into a sudden reflection of himself.

"Gaah!" The samurai growled in the sudden rage that accompanies one when running into a sudden and unexpected obstacle. Lips turned up in a snarl, Ulrich whipped out his saber and thrust it towards the wall of crystalline ice in rage.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you!" Unfortunately Odd was not Ulrich and the feline's warning came too late as the samurai's katana plunged into the ice, splintering a single image of the group into dozens upon dozens. Ulrich glared at the fractured image in disgust and frustration, looking as if he wanted to strike again. Knowing that such an action would not lead to any desirable conclusion, Ulrich instead angrily sheathed his sword. Odd look as if he were about to say, "Told you," but Aelita sent him a warning glance that informed him not to, and so the hybrid remained silent.

"This is ridiculous!" Ulrich roared in frustration. Aelita shared a worried glance with Odd. Neither of them had actually seen the samurai lose his cool before, but apparently this nightmarish maze of ice mirrors had pushed Ulrich beyond his patience.

"Calm down, Ulrich," Aelita said soothingly as she approached irate boy - or at least what she thought was him, the reflective surfaces of the ice mirrors made it hard to tell. "We'll get out of here, don't worry. We just have to be patient."

Ulrich sat down on a nearby ice block with a sigh. "I'm sorry, Aelita. I didn't mean to lose it like that. It's just...I'm not..." The boy's voice faded away as if he no longer wanted to speak. Aelita was glad that for once Odd did not interject.

"You're not what?" Aelita urged the brunette on gently, going over to kneel down beside him and looking him in the eye. The samurai met her gaze ruefully.

"I'm not that...good with caves and...things like that," Ulrich turned his head to the side as if ashamed. "It makes me feel trapped."

"Like you were in the Northern Wastes," Aelita filled in for him as realization dawned over her. The boy's head shot up in surprise at this and he gave her a questioning glance. Before he could ask the silent question, though, she answered, "Odd told me all about it."

Ulrich nodded his head before closing his eyes and taking a deep, even if unnecessary, breath to calm himself. After a few seconds he opened his eyes and stood back up, Aelita standing with him. When he spoke his voice was calm and collected.

"Alright, let's get out of here."

"Easier said than done, but still easier than you might think," Odd announced encouragingly, motioning to his scratch marks once more. "I recognize this spot. It was one of the last places I stopped before I reached the tower and I was a little more frustrated than usual as you can see."

Aelita narrowed her eyes to better get a view of the scratch marks and, now that it was pointed out, noticed that there was an unusually large quantity of them - almost as if Odd had swiped his claws over the ice many, many times, which, all things considered, he might have actually done.

"So that means we're almost out?" Ulrich asked hopefully. Odd wore an uncertain expression but nodded nonetheless.

"Possibly, it means that we're near the tower. All we have to do is keep moving."

"Then let's keep moving," Aelita urged, walking towards Odd as they set out once more through the crystalline caves.

* * *

Odd collapsed onto the ground in relief, not so much because he was tired but rather that he had thoroughly had enough of walking for the day. Ulrich dropped down beside him onto an icy outcropping with an relieved sigh as Aelita entered the tower that had been such a trial to reach.

"You know," Odd pondered out loud, Ulrich glancing over at him curiously. "In hindsight, this tower probably would have been a good one to find _with_ Jeremy's help."

"I suppose so," Ulrich muttered in reluctant agreement. Odd lazily glanced over at the samurai. It was easy to discern the source of the brunette's reluctance.

"Still not too sure about Jeremy, huh?" Odd guessed. Ulrich's eyes shot over to him in surprise but the samurai quickly relaxed.

"Is it really that obvious?" Ulrich asked wryly. Odd was tempted to brag that he could read the samurai like a book, but not only was he unsure if he _could_ read a book, but in all truth his companion was about as expressionless as a stone most of the time. It was only when he had been worn thin by either Odd or something else that he actually began to show some sort of emotion other than vague irritation or quiet confidence.

"Sometimes it is, but other times - not so much," Odd shrugged truthfully. "To be honest, it wasn't that hard to guess. I mean, you haven't really been all that secretive about who you don't trust."

"It's not that I don't trust him - at least, not completely," Ulrich shook his head dolefully. "I mean William seems alright, but Jeremy? All I've seen - well, not seen, heard. All I've heard of him is his voice and everyone else's appraisal."

"And I'm guessing you're not the type to go judging people on the words of others?" Odd asked blithely. The samurai gave another wry smile, glancing over to Odd as he did so.

"Pretty much," he said with a shrug. "After all, if I was, then I'd have sided with Xana instead of going over to hear your part of the story."

"Whelp, I guess there's something to be said for that after all," Odd admitted before adding with not a little enthusiasm. "Besides, you'll have a chance to meet Jeremy soon enough." Upon seeing the samurai's questioning and surprised glance, Odd elaborated. "He's already working on materialization programs for you and me. Soon we'll be able to go to Earth just like Aelita. How cool is that going to be, huh?"

"Yeah, how cool," Ulrich echoed uncertainly as he fell deep into thought. Sensing that his friend needed some time to himself, Odd decided tactfully, for a change, to stay quiet. And so it was that for the rest of the time Aelita was unlocking the tower from Lyoko, the two boys remained in an amiable silence, and for once Odd was not bothered by that silence.

_Yumi entered the clearing that lay around the Tower of Respect. Standing in the shadow of the massive structure was her doppleganger. The being that called itself Xana. Sensing her approach, Xana turned to face the geisha. __**"So you have returned." **__It stated simply. "__**You seek more answers do you not?**__" The ease at which this being could so readily guess her thoughts left Yumi more than a little unsettled. Yet still, there was something alluring about this enigmatic being. Although there was certainly a sense of danger that accompanied the being, there was also the undeniable sense of authority that exuded from it, making it clear that Xana was indeed the one who sustained and controlled the world. "I have," Yumi replied simply in turn as she stopped in front of her double. "You have told me much. Answered many questions. But there are still many more I wish to ask." The being nodded slightly, one of the few movements Yumi had ever seen it make apart from turning and walking. __**"That is to be expected. You have no knowledge of who you are or of the world in which you reside." **__Yumi nodded in turn, steeling herself before asking her first, and perhaps most pressing, question. "You have said that I am a Guardian of Lyoko. I know that Lyoko is these mountains and even more, but I do not know truly what it means to be a guardian of it. I suppose my question is this: who am I?"_

**Post Story Author's Note: So, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. Not my best, in my opinion, but then that's just my opinion and I would like to know your thoughts on the subject, so please review! And thanks in advance for those reviews, also. In addition, for you perceptive people out there, no, there was no mirror-like cave in the show - that was just me adding it in. Also for you fans of Ulrich...man, I'm a horrible person. Already Ulrich has vertigo and quite possibly dyslexia, and here I am giving him claustrophobia! (Not that I had that in mind when I first started writing. It just sorta happened.) So, once more, I welcome all reviews, please tell me how I am doing so far (especially with their characterizations). Until next time, readers, where our group of Guardians take an unexpected journey to the most dangerous place in all Lyoko.  
**


	16. Chapter 16

**Author's Note: Alright, Chapter Sixteen's out! Thanks so much for the reviews, they are as motivational as always. As for the questions in them, I see no reason why the Skidbladnir will not be present, and as for the Scyphozoa, well, it already made an appearance in chapter whatever (I'm not feeling too inclined to look the chapter up right now; maybe once I reach the post story author's note I will). So with all the questions out of the way, thanks once more for the reviews.  
**

**Now on with the story...**

_Yumi stood on the edge of the plateau, the Tower of Respect looming behind her and in its massive shadow stood the entity which called itself Xana. To say that the last dozen or so periods had been informative would be an understatement. Xana had told her much of Lyoko. In truth she had little to no questions left unanswered by the being. Of course she had not spent the entirety of the recent periods in discourse with her doppelganger. On several occasions she had spent a great deal of time away from the being, to gather her thoughts and sort them out. But now it was undeniably time to make her decision. Although subtle, Yumi sensed that Xana's patience, if it could even be called such, was wearing thin. The geisha could easily hazard a guess as to why. From what it had told her the Ice Sector was almost unlocked and the one named 'Jeremy' was to return soon from wherever he had gone off to. She could not remember the name but she knew it was within France, the nation, as it was called, in which the supercomputer which held Lyoko resided. Nations...the concept was so strange to the geisha and yet so familiar. Each one of them was separate from the others and yet often so different. In a way they were like the various sectors of Lyoko - all parts of the same world. Yet, despite being a part of the world they were often in conflict with each other rather than working in tandem. Yumi shook her head to clear her thoughts. Earth was of no concern to her at the moment. It was intriguing to say the least - especially the part of it known as 'Japan', which had caught Yumi's interest almost immediately. But still, it was not her concern. What was her concern was Lyoko. If what Xana said was true, then her very existence, not to mention that of her world, were in danger. But how could she tell if Xana spoke the truth? She had not dealt with anyone before and, although Xana certainly seemed to exude authority over Lyoko, how could she know for sure? Yumi could think of only one solution to this. Turning around and walking towards her twisted duplicate, Yumi could only hope that the enigmatic being would agree. Noting her return, the entity spoke once more, __**"You have...returned. Have you made your decision?" **__The geisha hesitated for a brief second before shaking her head uncertainly. "Not yet," the geisha thought she saw a flicker in her counterpart's eyes and quickly continued. "But I am near one. I simply require a boon." Xana remained silent for a moment, as if contemplating what the geisha had said. Finally, it spoke once again. __**"What would you ask of us?"**__ Yumi clenched her jaw nervously before replying. "It is just...while I don't have any reason not to believe your words, I also have no reason to believe them as well." She paused, preparing to continue, and was surprised when the being nodded slowly and spoke, "__**That is a...logical assessment. You wish access to an outside...source of...opinion.**__" Yumi's mouth gaped slightly in surprise. In fact that had been what she had been about to ask for. Not her exact words, of course, but it was the basic gist of her request. Not for the first time Yumi was both disconcerted and fascinated by Xana's ability to almost read her thoughts. Nodding slowly but surely, Yumi affirmed what her doppelganger had said. "Yes, I do." She held an unnecessary breath as she waited for Xana's answer. Narrowing its eyes slightly, the being spoke again and said simply, "__**That can be...arranged.**__"_

Ulrich stood unwavering as he stared out across the tumultuous, frozen wastes that were Blizzard Plateau. Beside him, carved into the ice, was a crude map detailing the movements of the snow storms, not dissimilar to the map he had etched into the desert rock outside of the Tornado Peaks. Even as he watched the movements of the storms, the samurai would occasionally divert his view from the chaotic dance of snow and ice to carve further details into the frozen ground with his katana. Turning his gaze back towards the inhospitable plateau that lay before him, a distant hum caught his attention. Eyes not moving from the storm-swept plain, both to keep track of the storms and so as not to alert whatever was approaching, Ulrich listened carefully to the new sound for a few tense seconds. Once he realized the cause of the distant humming, which was growing closer, Ulrich let himself relax. Well, at least, relax the part of him that had been stirred up and preoccupied by the newcomer - which Ulrich presumed to be Odd, as the feline was usually the one who rode on the overboard. Knowing that he would get little work actually done when the talkative hybrid arrived, Ulrich quickly etched in his latest observations, got to his feet, and turned to face the new arrival - who was, indeed, Odd.

"Hey, whatcha up to, Ulrich?" Odd called to the samurai once he was within earshot. Ulrich waited until the feline had reached him and dismounted before answering concisely.

"I'm mapping the storms," Ulrich felt little need to specify where the storms were, the answer being quite obvious, however the samurai did feel compelled to add, "A task which you just interrupted."

Odd rolled his eyes and let out an exaggerated, exasperated sigh. "Sheesh, you and Aelita," he complained, throwing his arms up in the air. "All you guys ever seem to want to do is work, work, work. Don't you know what relaxation is?"

"What's relaxation?" Ulrich deadpanned, and from the look on Odd's face, the samurai could tell that the feline was unsure of whether he was being serious or not. Enjoying the moment too much, Ulrich held back a smirk and, before Odd could start speaking again, posed another question. "What are you doing here, anyways?"

Odd, still a bit flustered by Ulrich's reply, had to take a few moments to gather his no doubt scattered thoughts. When at last he had done so, he replied. "I was looking for you, actually. Aelita wants to give you a tour of the Forest Sector. She said it was long overdue."

"Is that so?" Ulrich murmured, inclining his head onto a finger in thought. Although he most certainly wished to return to his home, he had to admit that he had always been curious about the Forest Sector. Having dwelt in a desert for as long as he could remember, the thought of flowing water and green, growing things was an intriguing one. Unfortunately he had not yet gotten the chance to visit Aelita's home. Making up his mind, the samurai nodded to himself and announced, "Alright then, once the others get back, we can go."

Odd started at this in surprise and confusion. "What others?" He asked, completely bewildered. Ulrich, having already sent the mental command to his duplicates to return, pointed into the distance.

"Them," he answered simply. Odd twisted around to see where Ulrich was pointing and jumped slightly in surprise as two blurs of yellow rushed towards them and skidded to a halt, revealing the samurai's two clones.

"Forgot about that," Odd muttered under his breath as the two new samurai gazed curiously at the feline. A quick gesture from Ulrich sent them to record their findings on the cold, hardened ice that held his map. Turning back towards Odd, who was now looking at him bemused, Ulrich realized that ever since he had come to the Ice Sector he had not once triplicated. Until now, that is.

"They do what you tell them?" Odd asked with a mixture of curiosity and disbelief.

"More or less," Ulrich shrugged, adding as an afterthought. "They can even communicate back to me with signals. I tried to get them to speak but no luck."

"So they can't talk?" Odd echoed before shooting a suspicious look towards Ulrich. "Have been leaving one of them behind with me?"

Ulrich's eyebrows shot up in surprise at the sudden query. Frowning in confusion, he replied, "No. Why do you ask?"

"Ah, no reason," Odd stumbled over his words hastily. "Just wondering. Would have explained a lot."

Before he could open his mouth to voice another question, Ulrich was interrupted by his two clones standing up, having finished etching their portions of the map. Glancing at the partially completed map critically, Ulrich nodded to himself. It would have to do for now. Turning back to face his duplicates, Ulrich uttered a single command, "Fusion." With that his two counterparts surged towards him, blurring as they merged with the samurai. Sheathing his sword, Ulrich turned to face Odd, who looked a bit disconcerted. "Well, are we going?" The samurai asked. Odd nodded his head, silent for once, before turning to climb back on the overboard. Triggering his super-sprint to keep up with Odd, Ulrich prepared himself for a long overdue visit to the Forest Sector.

* * *

Aelita waited patiently in front of her tower - Tower One to be exact. She had always thought of it as belonging to her in a manner of speaking. After all, it had been where Jeremy found her, and it was where she performed most of her work. The massive tower was more than that of course, more than hers. It was, in addition to all these things, one of the few way-towers that existed - and the only one to exist in the Forest Sector. Aelita leaned to the right, placing a hand on her hip as she waited for the arrival of Odd, and with him Ulrich. Unable to work after she had sent Odd to fetch the reclusive samurai, Aelita had decided to meditate instead. It was through this that she had sensed, after roughly an hour's time had passed, her fellow guardians' approach. Now she was waiting expectantly before the way-tower, and her patience was rewarded in due time as the wall of the structure rippled outwards and her two friends stepped through it and into the clearing.

"...and here we are. Aelita's Forest!" Odd was rambling on to Ulrich as they walked into earshot of the virtual elf in question. Aelita felt a flash of embarrassment at the name her friends used to describe her forest. She still had yet to become truly comfortable with it. What made this worse was that Ulrich seemed to be mildly amused at the name and her reaction to it.

"So, got a whole forest named after you, huh?" Ulrich said to the girl as he came to a stop in front of her. If Aelita didn't know any better, she could have sworn the samurai was teasing her. "Wonder who decided to call it that."

"Jeremy did," Aelita answered, rubbing a hand along her arm shyly. "This was where Jeremy first found me. Well, where I saw Lyoko for the first time, at least."

"You don't sound like you're that comfortable with it," Ulrich commented, an eyebrow quirking up slightly. Aelita wondered if she was really that obvious. As if sensing her question, the samurai followed his statement up with, "I've learned to be observant."

Before Odd could say something along the lines of "Well, it doesn't take a genius to see that!" in reference to her awkwardness, which Aelita could see the eccentric feline was just dying to do, she quickly answered back, voice stammering slightly in her haste.

"Oh, n-no, it's not like that," Aelita did not want it to seem as if she did not appreciate the sentiment behind Jeremy's naming of the forest. "It's just that...it feels weird hearing other people call it that. And what am I supposed to call it anyways? My forest?"

"Sounds about right," Ulrich shrugged nonchalantly, while Odd nodded his head emphatically.

"Yeah, that's exactly what you're supposed to call it," Odd chimed in gleefully. "You gotta take some ownership. Show some pride in having your own forest!"

"Show some pride, huh?" Ulrich joshed the feline smugly. "You're certainly the expert at that!"

"Hey!" Odd protested indignantly before adding smugly and, to Aelita, proving Ulrich's point. "When you're as awesome as I am, it just can't be avoided. I'm just that good at being amazing."

"Hmpph, more like that good at making bad jokes and ridiculous comebacks," Ulrich rolled his eyes derisively. "If you're so awesome then why's it so easy to beat you in a race?"

Aelita rolled her eyes gently. This must be what everyone else experienced when she and Odd got into an argument. Allowing the banter to go on for a few moments longer, Aelita broke up the blithe quarrel with a soft but clear, _Ahem._ The two boys turned towards her.

Smiling on the verge of a smirk, Aelita asked innocently. "Do you two want to see the Forest Sector or not?"

Slightly surprised from having been interrupted, something that likely rarely happened to the samurai, Ulrich simply nodded in response, while Odd was more vocal, replying with a hearty, "Sure thing, princess! Ready to go!"

And so, without further adieu, Aelita turned and walked into the forest, her two companions trailing close behind.

* * *

They were nearly to the Marshes, as Aelita called them, when Odd asked the obvious and important, to him at least, question of, "Hey, Aelita. Why aren't we using the vehicles to get around? We have enough."

Aelita glanced over her shoulder with a knowing look while replying, "We do. But I'd rather walk and take my time showing Ulrich around. You two can race around the forests later."

"You really don't like to stop talking, or slowing down, do you?" Ulrich chided Odd wryly, casting a sideways glance at the feline, who had hardly stopped talking save when Aelita was speaking. Odd huffed in derision at the samurai's jabbing question.

"Says the guy who can run at super-speeds!" The hybrid countered petulantly, crossing his arms as he walked. Seriously, who was Ulrich to say that he, Odd, didn't like slowing down when the samurai himself could run almost as fast as the overboard could fly?

"Well, he may be able to _run_ at super-speeds, Odd," Aelita called over her shoulder teasingly. "But you can certainly _talk_ at super-speeds!"

Odd rolled his eyes at the pinkette's lighthearted jab. "Ha, ha, very funny. A real knee-slapper," Odd drawled sarcastically, even if he was aware of the fact that, out of all his friends, he was the most talkative. But it wasn't his fault if they didn't talk all that much, was it? And _someone_ had to fill the silence, and who better to do so than him? Odd was just about to say as much when Ulrich suddenly jerked to a halt, placing one hand on his hilt and raising the other hand to stop his companions. Odd froze in his tracks at the grim expression on the samurai's face.

"What is it?" Aelita asked the two of them when she turned around, having sensed the change in mood. Ulrich let out a low shush and gestured for them to listen. Odd strained his ears.

"I don't hear-" Odd's eyes shot wide open as the sound the samurai had no doubt heard reached his own ears. It was a rapid succession of grinding clinks that could have only meant one thing.

"Bloks!" Ulrich exclaimed, whirling around, Odd pivoting with him. The samurai drew his sword in the motion of turning, while Odd cocked a wrist, hearing the familiar sound of his arrows loading. Charging towards them was a small army of nearly twenty bloks.

"Sheesh, I guess Xana _doesn't_ take a vacation," Odd complained aloud before turning to throw a warning to Aelita. "Better stay back, princess, we'll take care of these blockheads!"

His warning came too late, however, as even while he turned, a beam of crystalline energy surged past him and struck Aelita directly in her chest. The virtual elf lacked the time to even scream before being frozen solid.

"Aelita!" Odd shouted in distress and panic, whirling around to fire a volley of vengeful laser arrows at the offending blok, which shattered explosively in short succession. Odd was about to let fly another volley when Ulrich stopped him.

"Odd!" He said simply, his voice stern and commanding, his tone stopping Odd mid-motion. The feline glared at the samurai biliously.

"What?" He asked Ulrich, who was currently deflected energy bolt after energy bolt with his katana, which swung and parried back in forth in a blur of motion. The samurai didn't even so much as glance in Odd's direction as he spoke.

"We can't fight the bloks like this. Not with Aelita frozen," Ulrich warned calmly as he coolly redirected a laser bolt back at one of the oncoming bloks. "It's too risky. One stray shot and its over for her. We have to get her out of here!"

Odd wanted to argue with the samurai, but he knew that Ulrich was right. And above all, Odd wanted to keep Aelita safe from harm. So with that in mind, Odd rushed to Aelita's side and hefted the girl up into his arms as best as he could. Of course, being roughly the same size as Odd and essentially an ice sculpture made Aelita more than difficult for the feline to drag along the path.

"Geez, you're heavier than you look," Odd muttered to himself as he struggled to pull Aelita away from the battle. Hopefully she couldn't hear him or else he was going to get an earful when she finally thawed. Gaining a more manageable hold on Aelita, Odd began to pick up speed while Ulrich backed up slowly, following them out of the Marsh, deflecting stray energy blasts as he walked. The bloks were still closing in, however, and without any vehicles, Odd knew he would not be able to get Aelita to safety fast enough.

"Ulrich! A little help!" Odd called desperately, struggling once more with Aelita as a meandering laser bolt impacted the ground beside him, pushing him to the side. Ulrich cast a quick glance towards Odd and Aelita before surging towards them in a blur of yellow light, appearing to have not even turned around.

"Triplicate!" The samurai shouted as he approached. Two forms shot from the samurai and, with a few rapid gestures, were told to take up the rear. Without a word, the two new samurai took up positions behind Aelita, Odd, and Ulrich, as the latter two dragged the former along the moss-covered ground of the Northern Forest.

"We're running out of forest!" Ulrich gritted his teeth in exertion as he strained along with Odd against Aelita's dead weight. Neither of them noticed the panic that was slowly building in the frozen elf's eyes. Odd glanced behind them. Sure enough they were approaching the edge of the sector. A worm of doubt wriggled its way through the feline. Something wasn't right. Then it hit him.

"Oh, no," Odd muttered grimly as he realized the trap they had fallen into. Freezing in his tracks, and causing Ulrich to stumble to a halt, the feline announced bleakly. "It's a trap."

No sooner had he spoken the words than an alabaster-white sphere, emblazoned with an azure eye of Xana, rose from the depths of the Digital Sea and engulfed the small group. Before he was blinded by the brilliant white light of the transport sphere, Odd could just make out Ulrich's clones shimmering from existence as their link to the samurai was severed. And with that final image of defeat, the sphere whisked them off to the last place Odd wanted to be: Carthage.

* * *

The blinding light surrounding them faded as the transporter released them from its hold. At that moment, Aelita burst free from her icy prison, crystalline shards flying in every direction, with a shout of triumph and defeat; triumph for breaking free of the ice and defeat for their entrapment by Xana. Feeling her short burst of energy fade away, Aelita gasped as she fell to the floor. A hand and a paw each caught her on both sides. The virtual elf glanced up at Ulrich and Odd, who helped her slowly to her feet.

"Thanks," she breathed in thanks, her legs still wobbling. Once she was steady enough to stand on her own, her friends released Aelita from their hold. Aelita surveyed the oscillating room with a mixture of despair and fear, noting that Odd too wore a similar expression to what must have been on her own face. The only one who did not seem to be concerned, much to Aelita's surprise, was Ulrich, who stood casually waiting for the corridor to descend, hand resting on the hilt of his katana. As if sensing their distress, Ulrich turned to face them.

"Is something wrong?" Ulrich asked, a frown of confusion crossing his face. Aelita stared at him in disbelief. Then she forced herself to remember that Ulrich had only been to Carthage once before, and that visit had been a short one - not to mention relatively uneventful, a simple quick in and quick out.

"Is something wrong!?" Odd burst out incredulously before Aelita could overcome her temporary stupor. "We're in Carthage! Sector Five! How could anything get worse?"

"I don't understand," Ulrich's frowned deepened, no doubt thinking back to his own, albeit limited, experience in Carthage. As his voice faded away, Aelita managed to speak before Odd could go off on another rant.

"Ulrich, when we took you through here last time, it was a lot...calmer than it normally is," Aelita explained to the samurai slowly. Ulrich raised an eyebrow, indicating that his attention was on her.

"How is it normally?" He asked bluntly. It was Odd who answered this time, and Aelita let him, figuring that perhaps the answer could do with some of Odd's eccentricity.

"Oh not much," Odd began casually, almost sarcastically. "Just giant pillars of death falling from the ceiling, mazes that never end, these ugly, crawling things called creepers that fire lasers at you, and - oh, did I mention that this is where Xana lives?"

"What?" Ulrich's eyebrows shot up in astonishment, his gaze shifting to Aelita, looking for confirmation.

"It's true. This place is the closest thing Xana could call a home," Aelita nodded grimly. Her next words died on her lips as an ominous thud indicated that the passageway into the labyrinth had stabilized. Glancing bleakly at the corridor, Aelita turned back to face her two companions. "Come on, no more time to talk," She told them urgently, motioning with an arm to follow. "We have to find the switch, and we have less than two minutes to do so."

With that, the motley group sped down the expanding corridor, Ulrich in front followed in rapid succession by Odd and Aelita.

"Man, I hope it's not another maze," Aelita heard Odd mutter from in front of her. The elf skidded to a sudden stop as Odd and Ulrich did likewise once they reached the end of the corridor. Peering out from behind them, Aelita could see that the room was far removed from being a maze, as it was wide and open. The only thing belying its innocuous appearance was the many criss-crossing beams of deadly red energy.

"Oh no," Odd corrected himself in mock relief, shoulders rolling in resignation. "This is much worse."

* * *

Ulrich knelt down in front of the nearest laser beam. He was tempted to pass his sword through one of the streams of energy, but decided he preferred his katana over the satisfaction of his curiosity. 'They weren't kidding when they said it wasn't usually calm,' Ulrich thought to himself as he further surveyed the deadly array of crimson beams. Shifting his gaze to the far side of the room, Ulrich spotted the switch extruding from the side of the wall and molded in the form of Xana's symbol.

"There's the switch," Ulrich pointed out with his hand, while the other rested on his knee. Getting back to his feet, Ulrich announced, "Someone's going to have to go through that death trap to get to it."

Of course by someone, Ulrich meant himself. There was no way he was going to risk anyone else's safety. As he moved forward to enter the deadly net, a purple-furred paw stopped him.

"Hold on a sec," Odd chastened Ulrich softly, moving to stand in front of the samurai. Ulrich's lip curved upwards in a frustrated scowl.

"Odd, we don't have time for this! We're running _out_ of time," Ulrich reproached the feline. Odd seemed unfazed by the samurai's ire, however.

"Which is exactly why we only have one go," Odd stated rather matter-of-factually and then said, for once without a trace of pride in his voice but of reason, "And if anyone's going, it's me. You may be fast but I'm willing to bet you're not as limber and flexible as I am. Being fast won't do you any good here if you get fried by one of those lasers."

Ulrich opened his mouth to argue but realized Odd was right. Ulrich was many things but an acrobat, or at least one as skilled as Odd, was one thing he was not. Knowing that time was not on their side, Ulrich simply stepped back and nodded for Odd to continue. With a nod of his own, Odd wordlessly plunged in amongst the deadly beams of crimson light. Silent save for the occasional grunt of exertion, Odd weaved and twirled through the laser field. At one point Odd's tail got caught in one of the beams. Briefly panicked by his now alight tail, Odd leaped up in the air in surprise, only to realize his peril to late as he fell back down towards one of the lethal beams. Aelita gasped in horror as the hybrid fell towards the beam. Ulrich clutched his katana tightly in his hand but relaxed his grip as Odd managed to catch the floor with his paws. Now he stood on his hands, suspended for a time directly over the crimson beam. Narrowing his eyes and grunting at the effort, Odd slowly bent his elbows, lowering himself as close to the energy shaft as possible without frying his face off. Once he was far down as possible, Odd gave a mighty push with his paws, letting burst a shout of effort as he did so. Ulrich watched impressed as the hybrid managed to fling himself over the last few energy streams, landing on the metallic floor past them, arms spread wide for balance and extravagance. With a self-satisfied grin on his face, one of the most self-satisfied Ulrich had ever seen come from the feline - and that was saying something, Odd turned to face his two companions.

"And once again Odd the Magnificent has shown his epic skill once more!" Odd announced ecstatically with a flourishing bow. Ulrich could not help but wonder how much of the hybrid's show was to cover up the fear he had undoubtedly felt. Before he could ponder the thought further, though, Aelita, more used to Odd's antics than Ulrich, called out a reprimand to Odd.

"Save the bragging for later!" Aelita shouted, her voice a flurry of emotions ranging from worry to relief to irritation. "You have to activate the switch. There's no time to lose."

Clearly understanding the gravity of the situation, Odd simply replied, "No problem, princess," and whirled around and leaped for the switch, his paw impacting the extrusion and causing it to retract. "I got it!" He shouted triumphantly as the deadly shafts of crimson sizzled from existence and the room began to shift.

"We have to hurry or else the walls will separate us from Odd and our way out of here," Aelita informed Ulrich before taking off towards the other side. The samurai moved to join her but suddenly a dull roar filled Ulrich's ears and pain lanced through his body as the warrior was thrown backwards.

* * *

"Ulrich!" Aelita cried out in horror as her friend was flung away from her by an energy bolt. Eyes darting frantically about the room, Aelita soon spotted the offending creeper perched on a ledge high above their heads. It wasn't long before Odd, too, spotted the monster, and the vile creature met a quick demise in the onslaught of Odd's laser arrows. A grinding noise filled the room, causing Aelita's attention to swerve back to Ulrich in panic. The walls were beginning to sever the room in two and Ulrich appeared to be unconscious. Aelita made a move to rush forward to help the comatose brunette, but a pair of paws jerked her to a halt and pulled her back.

"Watch it, Aelita!" Odd cried out in warning and admonishment as the two sides of the chamber slammed shut on the space where Aelita's body would have been. Aelita wanted to shout at Odd for stopping her, but the pinkette knew that if he had not then she would have been devirtualized for sure. So instead, being already in his hold, Aelita clung to Odd, resting her head on his shoulder.

"What are we going to do?" Aelita murmured bleakly. Not even when she and Odd had been trapped here had they been separated as such. And with Ulrich having been shot by the creeper, how long would the samurai last in the unforgiving labyrinth of Carthage?

"Hey, it's alright, Aelita," Odd consoled the shaken girl, holding her at arms' length to look her in the eyes. "I'm sure Ulrich's been through worse - though I can't imagine _when_. Anyways, point is, he's a survivor, just like the rest of us. And we'll find him, don't you worry," Odd paused for a moment before shrugging. "Or knowing him, he'll find us. Point is: no one's getting left behind. We're all going to get out of here."

Aelita set her jaw in determination, steeling herself and focusing on remaining calm. Odd was right. If any one of them was to stand a chance at surviving Carthage alone, it was Ulrich. Aelita let out a long, rattling sigh.

"Thanks, Odd," Aelita thanked the blond gratefully. "It's just...this place gives me the jitters."

"You're not the only one," Odd assured her before adding positively. "At least we haven't run into that scyphzo-whatsit." A shrill, menacing screech echoed through the corridor that lay behind them. "And I just had to jinx it!" Odd glowered petulantly.

If Aelita had a pulse, then it would have been racing, as images flashed through her mind of the scyphozoa. The virtual elf had only encountered the creature once before but once had been more than enough. Unaware of what she was doing, Aelita slowly backed into the wall behind her, hands flying to the metallic surface that pressed against her back as if searching for a way around. Odd cocked his wrist nervously. Suddenly a loud booming roar came from above them and Odd barely managed to dodge the volley of laser bolts that flew from the mouths of almost a half dozen creepers. Edging along the wall, and really wishing she had finished working on her energy fields, Aelita could only watch as Odd was quickly surrounded by the ugly creatures. But in her distraction of watching Odd dip and weave out of the way of the vile creatures, Aelita did not notice the lethal tentacles of the scyphozoa wrap around her until it was too late.

* * *

Ulrich let out a low moan, his face contorting at the memory of the laser bolt striking him. Those creepers sure packed a punch. Groaning as he went, Ulrich slowly leaned upwards and pushed himself to his feet. He shook his head to clear himself of the fog that was clouding his mind. What happened next, though, cleared the samurai's mind in an instant.

"Are you alright?" An unfamiliar voice asked from behind him. Ulrich spun around, sword in hand, almost expecting to see Aelita, for the voice had a similar sound to the virtual elf's. Still, the samurai knew that it was not Aelita, and, as soon as he caught sight of the voice's owner, this was confirmed. Ulrich froze in his tracks, a brief flutter of surprise coursing through him.

Standing before him with a mixture of concern and curiosity on her face was a girl dressed in a strange arraignment of garbs. She appeared to be wearing a dress of some sort that was equal parts black and red with a spattering of small, golden symbols embellishing it. Around this dress in its center was wrapped a yellow fold of cloth, held onto her body by a thin red string. Covering her legs were red tight-like pants accented with flamboyant black and grey boots which reached all the way to her thighs. And to add to all of this, her face was extremely pale, almost as white as the cloth which enveloped her arms, save for her cheeks which were rosy in color, contrasting sharply with her black hair.

"Who are you?" Ulrich challenged fiercely, shaking off his momentary stupor and attempting to cover it up with the blunt question. The girl raised an eyebrow, and Ulrich got the distinct impression that she was more amused than anything else. He also had to slap himself mentally. If she was like him then she probably _didn't_ know her name.

"Well, you sure are friendly, aren't you," She placed a hand on her hip, a hint of sarcasm in her voice clearly directed at Ulrich's tone. Stepping closer to the samurai, as if to get a better look at him, she answered his question. "My name is Yumi."

This shocked Ulrich slightly before a worm of doubt and suspicion wormed its way through him. If she knew her name, then did that mean Aelita and the others had already met this...Yumi? But what reason could they have for not telling him about it?

"How do you know your name?" Ulrich asked sharply, perhaps more sharply than he had intended. He winced mentally, for once, at his own bluntness. The polite thing to do would have probably been to tell her his own name. Apparently Yumi thought so as well.

"Huh, what kind of question is that?" The girl asked indignantly. "And _you _haven't even told me yours yet. What makes you think I'm just going to answer all your questions?"

Ulrich shook his head apologetically. "I'm...sorry. My name's Ulrich." He hesitated briefly before adding, "I haven't really had a lot of experience with meeting new people." That was an understatement, Ulrich thought ruefully to himself. Fortunately, his reply seemed relax Yumi, and she cracked an amused smile.

"So I've been told." This single phrase froze Ulrich in place. He stared at the girl, mind whirling with questions. Reaching out into the maelstrom, he pulled out what he felt was the most pressing.

"Who told you that? Have you met Aelita and Jeremy?"

Yumi shook her head, much to the samurai's confusion. "No, I haven't meet either of them." A smile worked its way across her face as she added, "And I haven't met Odd or William yet either."

Ulrich stared at her incredulously. Sheathing his katana, Ulrich asked, "How do you know them if you haven't met them?"

"I know _of_ them," Yumi corrected with a shake of her head. "Because I was told of them."

"Told by whom?" Ulrich asked, his grip unconsciously tightening around the hilt of his sword, and he forced himself to release it. Despite having asked the question, Ulrich was more than sure of the answer. An instant later, Yumi confirmed his suspicions.

"Xana," Yumi replied casually. "She told me of you and Odd and the Lyoko Wanderers and more."

"She?" Ulrich frowned in puzzlement before the realization struck him. "Of course, he must have appeared as a duplicate of yourself."

"Got it in one go," Yumi quipped before admitting, "She told me that you would be here."

Ulrich grew tense at this and did not stop his hand from moving to his sword. "Why's that?"

Yumi glanced down at his hand. "Touchy," she commented before adding, "I asked to meet one of you. Xana agreed that it be you, Ulrich."

"Okay," Ulrich began slowly, uncertain of how to react to this bit of news. "I hate to sound repetitive but, why's that? Why me?"

Yumi shrugged. "I'm not really sure. All I know is that Xana believed Aelita or Odd would be too...biased."

"And what's to say I'm not?" Ulrich replied darkly. Yumi shrugged again.

"Are you?"

Ulrich drew up short at this question. He wanted to answer it with ease, with decisiveness, but he found that he could not. The truth was the samurai did not know. Even though Xana had obviously lied to him - or at the very least twisted the truth, Ulrich still found the question echoing through his mind.

"I don't know," he said at last.

* * *

Odd dodged another energy bolt shot from the mouth of the remaining two creepers. "Laser arrow!" He shouted, leaping into the air and twirling slightly to align his wrist with the rightmost creeper. The metallic arrow flew true and struck the vile monster directly on its mark. Odd was about to do the same to its friend when he heard a sickening moan that sent shivers down his neck. Whirling around, Odd's eyes grew wide with shock and horror at the sight of Aelita in the clutches of the scyphozoa. He cursed himself silently; he had been to caught up in the battle with the creepers to notice the danger Aelita was in. And even now, as an energy bolt flew right past his shoulder, barely missing the feline, Odd realized that one day his distraction was going to cost him - either a friend or himself. Pivoting once more and crouching in the process, Odd let a final laser arrow fly towards the last creeper, causing it to explode in a sickening spray of entrails.

"Alright, two more arrows left," Odd muttered to himself as he turned back to where Aelita was held captured. Taking a deep, if unneeded, breath, Odd steadied himself as he took aim at the scyphozoa. "Gotta make every shot count, Odd. You can't afford to miss." The hybrid muttered to himself. A few tense moments later, which felt to be nearly an eternity to Odd, he intoned furiously, "Laser arrow!" Two shimmering arrows of energy shot from his wrist as he pivoted it between shots. Flying true and aimed by a master marksman, the laser arrows sliced through the tentacles that held Aelita on either side. The scyphozoa shrieked with rage but was forced to retreat, having lost its means to drain Aelita's memories. Odd let out a furious yowl at the monster before calling out in rage, "No one messes with my friends."

Wishing darkly that he had more arrows to fire at the disgusting blob, Odd rushed over to where Aelita had fallen to the floor. Instantly his anger faded to be replaced by worry and concern. He turned the drained elf over and shook her gently, eyes searching for any signs of life.

"Aelita?" Odd whispered desperately. The girl's eyes fluttered open and she let out a weak moan. Glancing around vacantly, she muttered something to Odd.

"W-what happened?"

"That nasty scyphosophia got you," Odd snarled, his anger briefly flaring back up at the thought of the creature. The feline's anger faded into puzzlement at the wan smile that had made its way across Aelita's face. "What?"

"It's scypho_zoa_, Odd," Aelita chuckled weakly as she pushed herself up with a slight moan. Odd helped her to her feet. "How long was I out?"

"You mean after the scyphozoa dropped you?" Odd asked rhetorically, making sure to pronounce the monster's name correctly this time. "Just a few seconds."

"A-and Ulrich?" Aelita asked hopefully. Odd shook his head and winced slightly at the distress on the pinkette's face.

"No sign of him yet, but it hasn't been that long since we got separated," Odd consoled the girl. Aelita nodded her head shakily.

"Alright," she breathed almost to herself as she gathered her thoughts. "We have to keep moving. We need to find Ulrich and get out of here."

"That's more like it," Odd grinned at the sight of Aelita getting back to her normal self. "Any idea where we should go next?"

Aelita gave Odd a look that clearly said she did not know before shrugging, "How about forward?"

"Sounds good to me," Odd replied cheerfully as the two made their way back into the labyrinth.

* * *

Yumi gazed at Ulrich in silence after his declaration. "Well," she announced at last. "I'm glad we're on the same page, then."

Ulrich let out a small huff of amusement at Yumi's words, reminded of the strange sayings Odd and Aelita would occasionally spout. Yumi, of course, was not aware of the source of his amusement.

"What's so funny about that?" She asked, sounding somewhat vexed at the samurai. Ulrich let out a low chuckle as he shook his head.

"Nothing. It's just that Odd and Aelita are always saying things like that," Ulrich told the girl, a glimmer of a smile tracing his lips. "I don't even know what a page is."

"Well, for starters it's one side of a piece of paper in a collection of sheets bound together," Yumi informed the samurai promptly, who startled at the sudden tidbit of information, not so much for as what it was but from whom it came. Adding as an afterthought, Yumi elaborated, "It's an Earth thing. A way they store information."

"How do you know that?" Ulrich asked, wondering how Yumi, without ever having met either Aelita or Jeremy, could know something so specific regarding Earth. Yumi shrugged insouciantly.

"The Network," she stated simply then elaborated upon seeing Ulrich's blank look. "The Internet."

A light dawned on Ulrich's face as he understood. Aelita, whenever she had dropped by the Ice Sector to visit, had often told him and Odd a lot about the Internet, the strange interconnected virtual network that spanned across Earth. Still the question remained, "How did you access the Network?" He and Odd had never done so. Partially because, for the former, Aelita simply had not yet had the time. For Odd, however, it was a different story. Aelita simply didn't trust his skill, or rather lack thereof, with programs and so declined to even attempt to teach the eccentric feline.

"Xana showed me how," Yumi answered simply. Ulrich felt himself tense up at this but managed to conceal his discomfort at the mention of the powerful being. "Turns out I knew some of the basics already - I had spent a lot of my time in the towers trying to figure out how the interfaces worked."

"You managed to reach the second platform?" Ulrich asked, surprised. He had, of course, seen the second mysterious platforms but had never been able to reach them himself.

"Yeah," Yumi shrugged casually before admitting. "It took a lot of effort, but I did it."

"And that's where you learned about all these...sayings, right?"

"Yep," Yumi nodded affirmatively. "And so much more. I've learned about the different lands - that's what they call sectors, the different people, languages - there are a lot of those, and..." Yumi's voice faltered for a moment and a dark look crossed her face as her enthusiasm died away. "...and their wars."

"Wars?" Ulrich frowned. He had heard the word before and had even used it when describing his defense of the desert, but from the way Yumi said it, it sounded much worse than he had thought. "You make it sound like they have a lot of those."

"They do," Yumi shuddered bleakly. "Not so much nowadays, thankfully, but they've had so many. Hundreds of them - if not thousands."

"Thousands?" Ulrich exclaimed in shock. He could not imagine having to go through what he had been forced to endure a hundred times, let alone a thousand. "Well, they must have had a good reason," Ulrich pondered out loud, although uncertainty wavered his voice. After all, in his war with Xana he had simply been defending himself and, if Xana was to be believed, it had thought he was a threat.

"Huh, you'd think so - but no," Yumi scoffed lightly. She pursed her lips in thought before amending, "Well, some did - at least one side, but more often than not most wars were fought out of pride or greed. Nothing good about them."

"Well, I'm sure Earth can't be all that bad," Ulrich ventured uncertainly. Yumi laughed at this but it wasn't a scornful sound, coming more from general amusement.

"Oh, it's not," Yumi assured the samurai. "It really can be quite a wonderful place, especially the land known as Japan," a wistful note entered her voice and visage. "If there was one place I would like to visit someday, it would be Japan. I don't know what it is about it, but it just..."

"Pulls at you," Ulrich finished for her. At her surprised look, he shrugged and said, "I know the feeling," then quickly amended. "Not about Japan, but I understand being pulled to a place."

"Your desert," Yumi nodded in understanding. "Your home. Xana told me you had been away from the Desert Sector for a while now. If I was gone for so long from my mountains I guess I would feel the same way - maybe that's why I'm drawn to Japan. It reminds me of my home."

"Yeah," Ulrich agreed absentmindedly. Then something about what she had said caught his attention. "Wait, mountains?" He exclaimed in confusion. "You mean...you're not the guardian of Carthage?"

"Carthage?" Yumi's face scrunched briefly in confusion before realization filled it. "Oh, you mean Sector Five," she shook her head. "No, I'm not its guardian. Actually," she announced almost like an afterthought. "There is no guardian here."

"I guess that makes sense," Ulrich reasoned aloud. "If this _is_ where Xana lives then there wouldn't be a need for one of us, would there?"

"Xana lives here?" Yumi asked, surprise washing across her face before fading into thoughtfulness. "Hmm, that's interesting. It would explain why this sector has been so easy for me to pass through."

"Guess Xana didn't tell you everything," Ulrich said, a trace of bitterness in his voice. Yumi glanced over at the samurai with a bemused look.

"Of course he hasn't," Yumi replied as if the thought of anything else was absurd. "I imagine I wouldn't be too keen on revealing where I lived either. Besides, the whole reason I came here was to see if what Xana has told me is true."

"Hmmph, I doubt it is," Ulrich snorted derisively. Yumi's mouth quirked somewhere between an amused and sad smile.

"Yes, Xana lied to you," Yumi consoled him. "It told me that it had made a mistake with you. It had treated you as if you were human."

"That's no excuse!" Ulrich burst out angrily. Whether he was human or not was irrelevant. He had been lied to and that was something he would not forget nor tolerate.

"I suppose not," Yumi said deliberately. "But so far nothing I've heard has dissuaded me from believing she is telling the truth."

"Well, then," Ulrich announced fiercely, suddenly feeling as talkative as Odd must surely feel constantly. "Let's see how Xana's 'truth' compares to reality."

* * *

Odd rushed down the hallway with Aelita close behind. As neither of them had much of an idea as of where to go, the virtual elf had had no problem with letting Odd take the lead. Odd only hoped that they could find Ulrich in time. An opening appeared in front of them to their right. A glance back at Aelita and a nod from the virtual elf was all Odd needed to make the turn. He skidded to a halt as he was confronted by the exterior of Carthage. Aelita bumped into him, surprised at his sudden stop.

"Hey, you wanna give a girl some warning, Odd?" Aelita huffed indignantly as she made her way around the feline, who was glancing over the edge of the platform. His eyes were following something that looked familiar. Mere moments later a metallic blur shot past them, Odd's head jerking up to follow the lift until it left his sight.

"Well, at least we found the lift," Odd reported, trying to make light of the situation as he turned his gaze back down towards Aelita, who was by now at his side. Catching the thoughtful expression on her face, Odd asked, "Alright, I know that face. What're you thinking?"

This shook Aelita from her thoughts. Determination etched on her face, Aelita replied simply, "I'm going to catch the lift. Find Ulrich and I'll have the vehicles ready for you."

"What?" Odd protested, raising his eyebrows in shock. "No way! What if Xana sends those mantas after you?"

"I don't think he will." Aelita shook her head, adding, "As long as I don't pick through his source codes I should be fine. Besides, what are the mantas going to do? Shoot me? If they do that then Xana loses whatever he wants from my memories. I'll be fine."

Odd drew himself up to argue but yielded, knowing that Aelita was right - or at the very least that she wasn't wrong. Nodding in agreement, Odd watched as Aelita glanced over the edge before jumping and catching the transport, riding it to the celestial dome. Once she was out of sight, Odd dropped to all fours and darted back into the labyrinth, determined to find Ulrich as soon as possible.

* * *

Ulrich and Yumi were silent once more, each for different reasons. One because he no longer had anything left to say. The other because she was contemplating all that had been said. Ulrich had told her all he knew about the Lyoko Wanderers and Lyoko, figuring it was safe as he knew nothing of any strategic value. He had also told her all of that which had happened to him, Odd, and Aelita. And so now here he was, sitting on one of the extrusions of the corridor, waiting for Yumi to speak. At last she did so.

"Everything you've told me," Yumi began and then faltered before continuing hesitantly once. "I've already been told. By Xana. The only difference is perspective."

"Surely you can't be trusting him!" Ulrich protested vehemently, jumping up from where he sat. Yumi glanced over to him with an apologetic look.

"And why shouldn't I? After all, if I don't believe what he said, why should I believe what you've said? The only difference between your story and Xana's is opinion."

"You can't be seriously joining him," Ulrich growled, frustration rippling through. For some reason it tore him to think that Yumi might end up on the opposite side of this conflict.

Yumi shook her head, sending a brief flutter of relief through Ulrich. A tremor of uncertainty shuddered through him next at the girl's words, "I haven't decided. I need time to think."

Yumi got up and began to walk away slowly. Ulrich's eyebrows shot up in surprise.

"Where are you going?" He asked as he quickly moved to her side, laying hand on her shoulder and causing Yumi to turn around.

"Back to the Mountain Sector, of course," she stated obviously. "Like I said. I need time to think. And for that I need solitude." Yumi waved a hand, indicating the entirety of their surroundings before adding wryly. "Well, as much solitude as is possible."

"But what about Xana?" Ulrich asked uncertainly. Concern for Yumi surged through him unbidden and he was both surprised and confused at its intensity. Yumi gave him a smug smirk.

"I can handle myself," she assured him confidently. "Don't you worry."

"I don't doubt that you can," Ulrich replied solemnly. If their was one thing Ulrich was sure of about Yumi, it was that she was more than capable of surviving. He took a breath to say more but Yumi stopped him.

"Good," she said simply, turning to walk away once more and calling out over her shoulder. "Now if you don't mind, I have a lot to think on...and I suspect you do too."

And with that she left Ulrich standing in the corridor. The samurai stood there for a few moments, frozen in uncertainty of what to do. After a few more seconds of indecision he shook his head. He needed to find Aelita and Odd. No doubt they were worried about him, and, with all the things he had seen of Carthage so far, they might very well need his help. For a moment, a brief moment, Ulrich wondered what he was going to tell them about Yumi. An instant later he had made his decision. He would not tell them. Not yet, at least. For now it would serve no purpose.

With that troubling thought out of his mind, Ulrich triggered his super-sprint and raced back off into the labyrinth in search of his friends. He passed many turns and corridors before finally finding them. Or rather one of them.

"Raaawwwr!" Odd yowled in surprise as the samurai slammed into him at full sprint - or rather tripped over him, as the hybrid had been running on all fours. Feline and warrior went flying across the floor at the momentum of the collision. They finally skidded to a halt, with Ulrich's left foot wedged under Odd's chin as if he had decided to kick it. In reality this was simply where Ulrich had rather painfully tripped over Odd and dragged the poor feline with him.

"Ack!" The feline spat crossly as he pushed Ulrich's foot from his face. "Get your foot outta my face! Do you always barrel into people at full speed?"

"Only if I don't see them coming," Ulrich deadpanned truthfully enough as he climbed to his feet as well. "Where's Aelita?"

"Getting our rides," Odd informed the samurai, gesturing over his shoulder for emphasis. "We'd better hurry, though. Aelita might not be worried about those mantas, but I am."

Ulrich nodded in agreement, although he was not quite sure what a 'manta' was. "Alright, let's get going." With that, the two boys began to sprint back down the corridor. When they arrived at the platform and were waiting for the lift, Ulrich posed the question, "What's a manta?"

"Um, let me think about how to describe 'em," Odd put a finger to his chin in thought. Suddenly his ponderous expression was wiped away as he shouted, "Oops, gonna have to wait! Here's our ride!" With that, Odd leaped down onto the platform with Ulrich close behind. Once they were steady on their feet, Odd appeared to have his description.

"Okay," he began hastily. "Imagine you took a krab, painted it blue, took its legs off, stretched it real wide, added a tail, and made sure it could fly. That's pretty much a manta."

Ulrich simply stared blankly at the feline as the lift ground to a halt. He was pretty sure the image he had just pictured was far from what a manta actually looked like.

"What?" Odd exclaimed indignantly as they stepped off the lift and headed out into the celestial dome. "You asked me for a description."

"Yeah, remind me never to do that again," Ulrich replied biliously. His mood improved when he caught sight of Aelita at the end of the platform.

"Aelita, we're back!" Odd called to the pinkette, who glanced over her shoulder, relief flooding over her face as she caught sight of Ulrich. With a few taps on the console, the virtual elf summoned up their vehicles. The overboard for Odd, the overbike for Ulrich, and the overwing for herself.

"Mount up," Aelita ordered, leaping onto the overwing as she did so. "I've opened the tunnel to the Forest Sector, but I doubt Xana will let us go without a fight."

As she said this she glanced up nervously at the wall of code that surrounded Carthage. Following her gaze, Ulrich caught sight of something quite disturbing. In the wall of code were forming strange, pulsing protrusions.

"And we're outta here," Odd quipped nervously, ahving seen the strange formations as well and leaping onto the overboard. Turning to Ulrich, he added, "You wanted to know what mantas look like? Well, you, my friend, are about to get a front row seat."

Not knowing what Odd meant by a 'front row seat', Ulrich simply mounted the overbike and sped off after his companions. As they neared the open corridor, however, a shrill keening noise caused Ulrich to glance behind him. Following the group were three strange, large, flat, flying creatures colored blue and white. Ulrich could only guess that they had hatched from the strange protrusions. Having only Odd's description to go by, Ulrich had to admit that he had expected them to look more like krabs.

"Don't worry," Aelita called back to him. "Once we enter the conduit they won't follow!"

Her words were proven true moments later as the group entered the vortex-like structure and the mantas peeled away, heading back from whence they came. With danger out of the way, Ulrich had time to think about all that had transpired.

* * *

Aelita walked among the towering trunks of the Eastern Forest, having left Odd to his own devices elsewhere in the Forest Sector. Her head turned right and left, her earring bouncing against her head as she did so. The elf was looking for someone in particular. The person in question was Ulrich. After their return from Carthage, the brunette had been more quiet than usual and had disappeared shortly afterwards. And after spending so long a time looking for him, Aelita was becoming worried for the reclusive boy. At last she found him, though, sitting on a log, his hands resting against each other between his legs as he gazed down vacantly at the ground, deep in thought.

"Ulrich?" Aelita called softly, somewhat hesitant to disturb the boy. Ulrich glanced up, seemingly surprised at her presence.

"Aelita," he replied absentmindedly, although his gaze seemed to Aelita to go right through her all the same. Walking over to him, she knelt down to look into his eyes. He remained silent, waiting for her to speak.

"Is something wrong?" Aelita asked gently. The brunette pursed his lips uncertainly before shaking his head.

"No, nothing's wrong. I'm sorry to have worried you."

Aelita felt a pang of sympathy surge through her. She wasn't sure why, but Aelita knew something was troubling the boy. Impulsively Aelita pulled the samurai into a comforting hug. Ulrich tensed in her hold, clearly surprised by her actions, but did nothing to resist it.

"If anything's troubling you," she told the boy tenderly. "You can tell me. I'll always be here to lend an ear."

With that said, and feeling somewhat embarrassed at her impulsiveness, Aelita pulled back from the stunned samurai. "Remember," she reminded him strictly. "If you ever need to talk, you know where to find me."

Ulrich nodded slowly as his surprise wore off, and a faint smile graced his lips. "I'll be sure to."

Content with his answer, and recognizing that he needed some time to himself, Aelita slowly turned around and walked back towards her tower. Until such a time as Ulrich wanted to talk, she had work to do. After all, Jeremy and William were due back soon.

_Yumi walked along the rugged mountain path. She had just come from the edge of the Mountain Sector. Which just happened to be at the Lonely Peak. 'Full circle,' the geisha thought wryly as she glanced around. 'At least I finished my cartouche of the Silent Plateau.' Suddenly with a start Yumi realized that there was one place that she had not made a cartouche. And that was the very plateau she stood on. As she pondered this, Yumi approached the Red Tower. And standing at its base was Xana, or rather of course the Avatar of Xana. At present the avatar was staring off into the distance as if watching something beyond Yumi's sight, but when the geisha approached, Xana turned its intense gaze towards her. "__**You have returned.**__" Her marred reflection stated simply. Yumi nodded in response. "__**And what is your...conclusion?**__" Yumi pondered her answer for a few moments before saying, "You were telling the truth. Everything you said, he simply repeated." At this Yumi could swear that she saw a hint of satisfaction glimmer across her clone's visage. But just as quickly as it came, it vanished. "__**Then you have come to a decision.**__" The way the avatar said the question it sounded more like a statement than anything else. Yumi gave it some thought. She was not ready yet. She had too many things to contemplate. Yet she had little excuses left to make. Suddenly an idea sparked in the geisha's mind. "Almost, I still need time to think." At this she was almost certain she saw a flicker of impatience shimmer across Xana's face and so she quickly added, "But allow me to complete one task before I tell you my decision." She paused waiting for the response. She felt almost like one the people from the stories told on Earth. The stories where a mere mortal was bargaining with a being of far higher power. After several agonizing moments, her duplicate spoke once more, its voice echoing through the air. "__**And what is this task?**__" Yumi nodded at this. "Since I have awoken, I have created cartouches in each section of the mountains. Except here. I wish to carve one more. And while I work, I will ponder my decision. And once I have finished I will tell you my answer." Once the silence after speaking had become too unbearable, even though less than a moment had passed, Yumi added quickly. "It is but a small area. The task will not take long." A few more tense moments passed before Xana nodded slowly. "__**Very well. We will grant you this...task.**__" It said before narrowing its eyes ever so slightly. "__**And once it is complete. You **_**will **_**give us your answer.**__" Xana's tone, authoritative in its very nature, left no room for argument._

**Post Story Author's Note: So, I hope you enjoyed, and if any of you feel up to it you can read that last part with Aelita and Ulrich while listening to the emotional track from the CLE soundtrack (one of the good aspects of the series by the way). I did so myself as I was rereading it and felt that the track was fitting. Now, as for the first appearance of the scyphozoa, that was in Chapter 6. So, once more, thanks for the reviews and please keep them coming, 'cause next chapter is gonna be a big one. Until next time, then, readers, when Jeremy and William will return, a Lyoko Guardian will set foot on Earth, and the Lyoko Wanderers will gain a new comrade.  
**


	17. Chapter 17

**Author's Note: Thanks for all the reviews! They really help get me pumped up to write these chapters. Now addressing the questions, yes, my inquisitive guest, I do have plans to give Yumi her bo staff. Now without further ado, I present to you this whopper of a chapter. Hope you enjoy.  
**

**Now on with the story...**

_Blue light engulfed the geisha upon entering the tower. The rings of the symbol beneath her lit with resounding thums as she crossed over them. Upon reaching the center of the platform, the geisha came to a halt. Suddenly, and without warning, she felt weightless as if nothing held her to the ground beneath her. As she rose upwards and the blue light grew more intense as rings of energy surrounded her, oscillating with lines of code, the geisha felt her mind begin to slip into unconsciousness. As she faded into a sleep-like trance, the geisha's mind was filled with dreams of her time in the mountains. And while she dreamed, her mind finally faded into the darkness of unconsciousness._

William glanced down at the worried blond walking next to him. As soon as Jeremy had arrived, all his concerns and problems seemed to pile back onto him.

"Hey, don't worry, Einstein," William encouraged the younger boy. "I'm sure Aelita and the rest are perfectly fine. After all, two of them _did_ survive on their own for quite a while."

"I know," Jeremy sighed as they walked across the bridge towards the factory. He adjusted the bag that was hanging by his shoulder. "It's just...ever since we've met, Aelita and I haven't been out of contact for so long."

"Wow, you really must be head-over-heels for her," William grinned, his smile widening further as he noted Jeremy's embarrassment. "Two months and this is how you get."

"Two months and seventeen days," Jeremy corrected before he could stop himself. The younger boy glowered at William's smug smirk, but simply announced, "We're here."

"You know I've never understood how some people have such a hard time admitting they're in love," William commented casually as he grabbed onto one of the hanging ropes and swung down to the factory floor, landing gracefully as usual.

"Yeah, you would," Jeremy retorted with a huff as his feet hit the concrete ground. "You were kicked out of your last school for writing love letters on the walls!"

"How do you know that?" William jerked to a halt, eyebrows raising in surprise. His surprise rapidly deteriorated into indignance as a thought occurred to him. "Did you seriously run a background check on me? Really?"

This time it was Jeremy's turn to look smug. "Eh, you could call it that," Jeremy shrugged casually as he entered the elevator with William close behind with a petulant scowl on his face.

"So what are these upgrades of yours, anyways?" William asked to change the topic. This elicited a raised eyebrow from Jeremy, but the younger boy went along with it.

"Well, in general it should improve some of your mobility and strength," Jeremy shrugged, thinking over his response for a moment before adding, "And as for Odd, I've found a way to stock him up with about ten thousand laser arrows - so reloading shouldn't be a problem."

William whistled at the impressive number. "You sure its a good idea to give him _that_ many?" Jeremy shrugged in response.

"As long as it keeps Xana's monsters at bay," Jeremy shrugged again as the elevator door opened and he stepped through. "Besides, Odd's not the only one getting a weapons upgrade. I've added another katana to Ulrich, and Aelita's been working on a weapon of her own."

"Aelita armed? That's a scary thought," William joked, only half in jest. Jeremy chuckled at the older boy's consternation at the thought of Aelita armed, as he sat down and donned his headset before typing in the necessary commands that would tie him into Lyoko.

"Aelita, can you hear me?" Jeremy asked into the microphone as soon as the connection was established. It was not long before the virtual pinkette responded joyfully.

"Jeremy, you're back! I've so much to tell you."

* * *

About half an hour later, Aelita finished telling her two friends all that had happened on Lyoko during their time away. To say they were somewhat speechless would be an understatement. Eventually though, Jeremy cleared his throat and adjusted his glasses.

"Wow," he said at last, still partially at a loss for words. "You guys have sure been busy. Have you told Odd and Ulrich about the upgrades yet?"

"Oh," Aelita pursed her lips awkwardly. She had completely forgotten to. The virtual elf glanced over to her friends, who were currently watching her with amusement, apparently enjoying the sight of Aelita appearing to talk to thin air and react to people they couldn't see. "What?" She asked sharply. The two boys instantly put on innocent expressions.

"Nothing," Odd replied slyly, obviously holding back a smirk as he shared a glance with Ulrich. "Just wondering what you guys are talking about."

"We were talking about your upgrades, Odd," Jeremy voice came from above, the blond having taken the time to connect to the comm system. Odd leaped up in surprise, landing on all fours with his tail lashing and an unsettled expression on his face.

"Kankrelats, I forgot what that was like!" Odd muttered to himself as Aelita and Ulrich watched on in amusement. Ulrich's expression turned serious, though, an instant later though, as he turned to face Aelita.

"What does he mean by 'upgrades'?" The samurai asked, not so much suspicious as simply dubious. Aelita pondered how to tell him, and then, figuring words weren't his favorite thing anyways, decided to show him.

"Well, I could explain it to you - or I could give you a demonstration," Aelita answered the warrior cryptically before turning to look back up at Jeremy. "Jeremy, fire up my upgrade program will you? Oh, and you should find my energy fields sub-protocols in the same folder."

"Got 'em," Jeremy reported from above. "Ready when you are, Aelita."

"Alright then," Aelita chirped before turning to the boys and quipping, "Be back in a flash!"

With that Aelita turned and walked into the tower that loomed over the clearing. As she entered the sides of the tower, the walls rippled and blue light engulfed her.

* * *

Odd and Ulrich were still standing in the same places they had been before when Aelita had entered the tower. As soon as she had shifted through the tower wall, their gasps of surprise met her ears. Aelita glanced down to inspect her new form. Covering her body from her neck down was a skin-tight suit which alternated between hot pink in the center and light pink on the edges. As with her prior form, her shoulders were bare and her forearms were covered with a dark, almost purple, skin-tight clothe. On her right wrist was a small star bracelet. In addition to this, she wore a set of transparent shoulder pads along with a partial and equally transparent miniskirt. Binding her apparel together were two bands of a metallic material that wrapped around her waist and chest.

"How do I look?" Aelita redirected her gaze back to boys, who were still staring in shock. The elf was eager to hear their opinions. Both of them seemed rather speechless.

"Um...uh...wow, you look great, Aelita!" Odd finally stuttered at last as the two boys finally began to make their way towards her. "Are we all going to get upgrades like this?"

"In a way," Aelita shrugged, a grin spreading across her face at a sudden thought. Eager to test out the program she had been working on, Aelita held out a hand towards one of the trees. "Energy Field," she stated simply, eliciting confused glances from Odd and Ulrich. Their confusion quickly morphed to surprise as a sphere of translucent pink energy coalesced in Aelita's palm and was sent flying towards the unsuspecting tree. Shards of wood shot across the clearing at the impact, while Aelita held a rather satisfied look on her face.

"Ah!" Odd exclaimed at last, appearing to be equal parts panicked and amazed. "Jeremy, what have you done! You've created a monster!" He cried out dramatically, earning him a chuckle from Aelita, Jeremy, and William.

"I wasn't the one who programmed the energy fields," Jeremy huffed in amusement. A light dawned in Odd's eyes as he looked back over to Aelita, who had rolled her eyes at the feline's flamboyant display of feigned panic.

"So _that's_ what you've been working on?" Odd asked in astonishment. Aelita nodded in reply. Before anyone else could speak, Jeremy interjected.

"That's not the only think Aelita can do though," This earned Jeremy - or rather the sky in all but Aelita's case - a surprised look. "Wave your hand over that bracelet of yours, Aelita."

Aelita did as she was told and was equal parts overjoyed and surprised as two translucent wings sprouted from her back. Odd and Ulrich's eyes widened at this latest development as Aelita spun around, spreading out her wings to get a better look at them.

"Their...," Now it was Aelita's turn to be speechless. A sudden flash of inspiration shone across Aelita's face, as she flexed her wings, bent at the knees, and leaped up into the air, her wings keeping her afloat. The angel laughed in delight as she soared around the clearing before stopping to hover over the amused and astonished Odd and Ulrich. "Jeremy, you're the wind beneath my wings," Aelita quipped gratefully. Focusing on her connection to the supercomputer, Aelita could see that this had elicited a slight blush from her human friend.

"Awesome!" Odd burst out from below her, the hybrid looking more enthusiastic than she had ever seen him. Even Ulrich appeared to be looking forward to the prospect of the upgrade. "What do we get?"

"How bought you find out?" Aelita grinned at him. Odd took the invitation excitedly and sprinted towards the tower. Aelita glanced up at Jeremy with a amused grin. "Better have Odd's upgrade ready, Jeremy. He's coming in at full speed."

* * *

The blinding light faded from Ulrich's mind as he emerged from the tower to the sight of Odd and Aelita waiting expectantly for him. The samurai glanced down at his arms and held out his hands. He was dressed in a skin-tight yellow and black jumpsuit. Glancing down at his side, he noted with a shock, and not a little bit of anger, that his sword was gone.

"Hey! Where's my sword!" Ulrich snarled furiously. Not looking the least bit worried at his anger, Aelita calmly pointed with a smirk to his shoulders.

"Try your back," she suggested sassily. Ulrich did as Aelita suggested and, much to his surprise, found _two_ hilts. Bending his other arm over his shoulders, Ulrich drew with a slight flourish two katanas instead of one.

"Incredible," Ulrich breathed as he surveyed the finely crafted digital blades. Twirling them in his hands for a few moments, Ulrich sheathed them and looked at Aelita in appreciation. "Thanks."

"Don't thank me," Aelita corrected, pointing upwards. "Thank Jeremy."

"Of course," Ulrich shook his head to clear it before turning his gaze upwards. "Thank you, Jeremy."

"No problem," Jeremy replied cheerfully before adding, "How do you all like your new looks."

"Perfect." "Practical." "Eh, could use a bit more flare." Were the answers that came from Aelita, Ulrich, and Odd, respectively. The former two turned to give somewhat reproachful look at the latter.

"What?" Odd protested indignantly. "I didn't say I didn't like it! Besides," Odd continued, ever the optimist. "I've got a bazillion arrows now!"

With that, Odd started shooting arrows around the clearing madly, obviously enthused by not having to worry about his ammo count. Aelita and Ulrich ducked instinctively despite being in no danger of actually being hit.

"Hey, cut that out, Odd!" Ulrich shouted, disapproving of the feline's blatant waste of ammunition.

"Yeah, Odd, you wouldn't want to use up all _ten_ _thousand_ of your arrows at once," Aelita chided, mirthfully laughing at the hybrid's enthusiasm. Odd stopped firing as they asked and gave them a playful grin.

"Ah, you two are no fun," He grinned jokingly. Aelita rolled her eyes at Ulrich, who cheerfully shared the sentiment, as Odd made his way back over to them.

"So, what's next?" Ulrich asked curiously. "Is Jeremy going to unlock the Ice Sector?"

"Whoa, one step at a time!" Jeremy exclaimed from above. "I have to make the unlocking programs first!" He added shortly after though, as consolation to the samurai, "It shouldn't take more than a few days. Plenty of time for you all to get used to your new forms and for Odd to get a taste of life on Earth."

A stunned silence greeted Jeremy from Aelita, Odd, and Ulrich at his words, until the angel broke the awkward pause with something close to an excited squeal.

"You mean you've finished his materialization?" Aelita asked excitedly. A sudden shadow of doubt crossed her face as she said uncertainly, "But what about Xana's virus?"

"That shouldn't be a problem," Jeremy assured the angel calmly. "I've place countermeasures to prevent Xana from tampering with Odd as he's materialized." He then added as an afterthought. "You'll have to input the code: Earth for him, though."

As Aelita nodded in acknowledgement, something Ulrich guessed Jeremy could see, the samurai stepped forward towards the angel and feline.

"So you two will be leaving, then," Ulrich stated coolly, not letting any emotion show in his voice. Despite this show, however, Ulrich had was surprised to find that he felt some regret at the parting. He had grown fond of both Aelita and Odd, despite how annoying the feline could be at times. Aelita gave him a gentle smile.

"Don't worry," she assured the samurai comfortingly. "I'll still be here in my tower. And Odd will have to come back until he gets a dorm at Kadic."

Ulrich thought on this and nodded. He would be fine. In fact, now that he thought about it, he might actually be able to finish mapping out the Blizzard Peaks.

"Alright, then," Ulrich replied finally. "Wouldn't want to delay you."

"Don't worry, good buddy," Odd declared enthusiastically, patting Ulrich on the back. "We'll be back before you know it!"

At this Ulrich grinned. "Well, then, I guess I'd better enjoy my moment of peace."

Aelita shared his grin, clearly glad at his mood recovering. Walking over to him, she placed a hand lightly on his shoulder.

"Remember," Aelita told him softly. "Whenever you need to talk, I'll be here."

And with that parting note, Aelita and Odd entered the tower. Ulrich watched for some time before drawing his twin katana and allowing himself a small, eager smile.

"Now, let's see how good this upgrade really is." He said to himself as he made his way deeper into the Forest Sector.

* * *

"William, you want to go down and greet our new arrival?" Jeremy asked, glancing over to the older boy. In truth the question was more rhetorical than anything else, and William quickly nodded in assent. Turning back to the interface, Jeremy directed his words to Aelita, "We're ready on this end. Whenever you're ready, enter the code: Earth. Once Odd's away you can activate the tower and meet in person."

"Or almost in person," Aelita chuckled softly before adding, "I'm entering the code."

Checking to insure that everything was running smoothly, and content in the knowledge Aelita would check any of Xana's possible actions, Jeremy removed his headset and jumped down from his chair.

"Well, then," Jeremy quipped to William as they walked to the elevator. "Let's go greet our new arrival, shall we?"

"Right behind you," William replied enthusiastically as they entered the lift and rode it down to the scanner room, where already one of the scanners was beginning to hum and whir as energy surged through it. The two boys stepped towards the scanner, a slight tremor of apprehensive running through at least one of them, namely Jeremy. The only other time he had done something like this was with Aelita, and the occasion had ended with the discovery that Xana had infected her with a virus and bound her to his fate. Now Jeremy could only hope the same misfortune did not befall Odd. A hiss from the scanner pulled the boy from his thoughts. With a mix of eagerness and nervousness, Jeremy and William watched as the scanner doors opened to reveal, curled on the floor not unlike a cat with his head resting on his arms, Odd. The newly human let out a soft sigh, taking in the sensation of actually breathing. From what Jeremy had heard from Aelita, the sensation was both painful and relieving. Shortly after his first intake of breath, Odd's eyes fluttered. Jeremy and William moved to help him up, but Odd shot off the floor before they could get much farther than that.

"Wow, this is Earth?" Odd's eyes widened as he unsteadily bounded out of the scanner tube and twisted this way and that to survey his new surroundings. Clearly he was more than thrilled to have a new world to explore. Suddenly he stumbled and went head over heels across the floor. Once more Jeremy and William made out to help him, but again the eccentric blond was too quick. Catapulting to his feet, Odd bent down to look between his legs, then in rapid succession he started to try to look directly behind him, his head twisting along with his body as he spun around. Jeremy and William shared a bemused glance.

"Uh, Odd, what are you doing?" Jeremy asked frankly. Odd paused in his mad scramble to inspect his friends in their human forms before rapidly spouting out.

"Wow, you must be Jeremy! It sounds so weird - you not being a disembodied voice and all. Or would that be _looks_ so weird? Eh, whatever, you know what I mean. At least I think you do," with that out of the way, the blond seemed to remember he had been asked a question. Reaching behind himself with his hands and grasping around at the air fruitlessly, Odd reported on what he was looking for, "I can't find my tail! Where'd my tail go?"

Jeremy and William stared at him for a moment, feeling a bit startled at the answer. All things considered, of course, they probably should have expected this. Before William could respond with the obvious fact that humans had no tails, another voice stole the part and caused them all to start slightly.

"Silly, humans don't _have_ tails, Odd!" Aelita chimed in cheerfully as her spectral form materialized into the room. Apparently the pinkette had been just in time to be witness to Odd's latest antics. Odd made a face at this. "And you're a human now!"

"Really? Is this how it is for you guys? Wow, how do you keep your balance?"

"We manage," William cut in briskly. "Besides, didn't you notice that I didn't have a tail on Lyoko? Not to mention Aelita and Ulrich."

Odd pondered this for a moment before rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly. "Oh, yeah," he admitted weakly. "I guess I kinda forgot about it. It's just so weird not having a tail."

"You'll get used to it," Jeremy assured the other blond dryly as he stepped forward to greet him. "In the meantime, welcome to Earth."

"You're gonna love it here," Aelita told Odd, resting a soothing hand on his shoulder. At her touch, the eccentric blond seemed to calm down a bit, although he still wore a massive grin and his eyes twinkled with excitement.

* * *

Odd stood before the desk of the principal, a man of rather stocky build in Odd's opinion. Still, despite the blond's thoughts on the man (which included that his outfit, consisting of an unbuttoned dress jacket and a sweater, looked quite ridiculous and drab, its only colors being variants of brown), Principal Delmas would have undoubtedly been the same height seated as Odd had been standing had it not been for the former-feline's flamboyant hair. At present, Mr. Delmas was scrutinizing Odd's 'transcript', which the clueless boy had been told carried all the information necessary for him to pass off as human. After a moment or two more of critiquing the transcript seriously, or as much as he could, as Odd thought the man appeared rather comical with his full beard and mustache - not to mention his pair of glasses. With the thought of glasses crossing his mind, Odd reminded himself that he would need to come up with a few jokes for Jeremy regarding the subject. In fact, he was pondering ways of doing this when Mr. Delmas finally directed his attention back towards Odd, gazing over the rim of his glasses sternly.

"So...you're Odd...Stones, is it?" Mr. Delmas began gruffly. Odd nodded in response, but it was Aelita, who stood behind him and slightly to the side along with Jeremy, who stepped forward and spoke aloud.

"Yes, sir, Odd Stones," at the nearly skeptical glance from Mr. Delmas, Aelita hastily added, "He's my cousin. He's from Canada."

"Hmm, yes I see," the principal muttered loud enough for everyone to hear but still low enough to be considered a mutter. "It says here you have an interest in art? Is that so?"

"Yep," Odd replied enthusiastically, then, upon noticing Mr. Delmas' stern look and Aelita's warning one, quickly amended. "I mean, yes, sir."

"Much better," Mr. Delmas affirmed before setting down Odd's papers and scrutinizing him curiously. "Still, tell me, Odd. Although Kadic Academy has a fine Fine Arts program, if I do say so myself, it does seem to be an odd choice for one so...ah...enthused with the subject."

"His parents wanted him to get better in the other subjects," Aelita improvised quickly, adding in with a pointed glance towards Odd. "Especially computer science. And they've heard so much from my parents, that they felt Odd just had to come here."

Personally Odd thought she was overselling it a bit, but, then again, a little flattery never hurt, and that certainly appeared to be the case here, as the Principal of Kadic noticeably puffed himself up with pride, sitting straighter in his chair, before responding rather formally. "Well, yes, of course they would. After all, Kadic has one of the finest educational programs in the country." He briefly glanced over Odd's paper's once more before straightening them up and placing them in a light brown folder. Directing his gaze once more to Odd and Aelita, Mr. Delmas concluded, "Well, everything seems to be in order. So if you'll follow Jim to your dorm room, you can get things sorted out. I am sure you will be rather pleased at having your own room."

To be honest, Odd did _not_ enjoy the thought of having his own room. He'd had _plenty_ of his own room back in the Ice Sector. And the thought of being by himself, with no one else to talk to, was not a pleasant one.

"What? You mean Odd won't be rooming with me?" Jeremy asked, a mixture of surprise and relief painting his voice. Pulled out of his musings, Odd could almost feel Aelita and Jeremy exchanging a glance. They had told Odd that, as the only student of his age to have his own room, Jeremy would likely be receiving Odd as a roommate. And although Jeremy had not been thrilled at the idea, Aelita had eventually won him over. Now, as Mr. Delmas explained, it seemed as if that victory had been in vain after all. Not that Jeremy probably minded, though. Odd could not comprehend how the other blond managed to survive being cooped up in one place all day with almost no one to talk to.

"No, we have an open dorm room," Mr. Delmas elaborated. He frowned for a thoughtful moment before adding, seemingly to himself. "In fact, it's been open for some time now. Months, in fact. I'm surprised not to have noticed it until now." Shaking his head and focusing on the students in front of him, the principal dismissed them, "You can go now, children. Jim should be just outside my office. I've told him your room number, and I am sure he will be more than willing to help you move your possessions."

"Don't worry," Odd flashed a cheeky grin. "I didn't bring much." And to be exact, Odd had only brought the clothes on his back, as the Earth saying went, which consisted of a purple t-shirt with a magenta undershirt and a pair of dual colored, but equally flamboyant, pants. Jeremy had theorized that the scanner had generated his clothes based on his personality, similar to how William's avatar on Lyoko had been generated. And Odd had to admit - he certainly had taste.

* * *

Aelita, Jeremy, and Odd walked side by side into the natatorium, all arrayed in a variety of swim suits. Jeremy and Aelita were outfitted in blue swim shorts and a light blue one-piece swimsuit, respectively. Meanwhile, Odd sported a rather glaringly purple pair a swim trunks, courtesy of Aelita and Jeremy. In actuality, of course, only the two boys wore any form of swimming apparatus, as Aelita was still within her tower on Lyoko. She had broken from her trance-like meditation that allowed her to fully immerse her mind into her spectral projection in order to make some minor adjustments to the program. Specifically, these adjustments would allow her specter to better withstand the water pressure without pixelizing. Immersing herself once more into her specter, Aelita found that Jim was calling her to display her abilities in swimming.

"Hey, Stones...er...uh - Aelita! You're up next! Maybe you can show that skinny friend of yours how to swim!" At this announcement, Aelita realized that Jeremy had already taken his turn in the pool and, by the sound of it, had failed to impress Jim, despite the fact that swimming was one of the few physical activities Jeremy was decent at. Transitioning her thoughts back to Jim and swimming, Aelita noticed their boisterous gym teacher drawing his breath for another tirade. To avoid this, Aelita hastily stepped forward, walking past Jeremy in the process.

"Are you sure your specter can handle the water?" Jeremy asked quietly as they passed. Aelita gave a hopeful smile in reply.

"I'll be fine," Aelita said before they were out of hearing range. "I just finished making a few tweaks with the program.

Hearing Jeremy's light grunt of affirmation, Aelita reached the edge of the pool and dived in, where for the next few minutes she spent her time gliding through the water with ease as she cycled through the various strokes. Once she had finished, Aelita swam to the edge of the pool and gracefully lifted herself out of it. Only when she saw the eager expression on Jim's face did she realize that she had, once again, forgotten to reel herself in.

"Wow, Aelita," Jim exclaimed as breathlessly as the big man could manage. "You should consider trying out for the swim team. With a swimmer like you, we'll be in the finals in no time!"

"Uh, maybe some other time, Jim," Aelita replied weakly. Fortunately, after so many offers rejected, Jim had apparently tone down his enthusiasm around her. Walking over to where Jeremy and Odd stood, the latter having no clue of the pinkette's chagrin, Aelita caught a hint of an amused smirk on Jeremy's face.

"Not a word," Aelita ordered simply as she marched over to where her friends stood. Unfortunately, this was all it took to spark Odd's curiosity.

"Not a word about what?" The inquisitive blond asked, eager, no doubt, to find out what he missed. With the hint of his smirk growing more pronounced, Jeremy explained to Odd.

"Ever since Aelita's been coming here as a specter, Jim's been trying to recruit her for every sport imaginable - since in spectral form she outpaces and outmatches just about everyone." At this point, Jeremy turned to Aelita to openly grin - a nice sight for the girl to be sure, but also a tad irking given the subject matter. "What's it now, Aelita? You've got a choice between soccer, javelin throwing, tennis, basketball, track, or swimming."

"I said, not a word," Aelita retorted sternly, giving the boy genius a light punch on the shoulder. Or at least what she thought was a light punch. From the expression on Jeremy's face and the way he was currently rubbing his arm, Aelita determined that her reprimand had come out more harsh than she had intended. "Sorry," she muttered apologetically. "Still not used to being a specter again." Fortunately, Jeremy was understanding of this and simply nodded, accepting her apology. He then turned his attention towards Odd.

"Speaking of swimming, it'll be your turn soon," Jeremy noted. Odd suddenly had a rather nervous expression as he glanced at the imposing pool of water.

"Don't tell me you're afraid of water," Aelita teased him gently. "You've said you've swam in it before."

"Yeah - virtual water," Odd retorted, still uneasily staring at the sloshing water that had been disturbed by the multitude of students. "And only because a tarantula was chasing after me. Besides, I didn't have to breath. Can humans even breath water?"

"Of course not, Odd," Jeremy rolled his eyes in exasperation. "It's called holding your breath. Meaning, you stop yourself from breathing."

"But I thought I needed to breath," Odd replied, clearly confused. Aelita, like Jeremy, rolled her eyes gently before elaborating to the clueless blond.

"You can stop breathing for a while," she explained carefully to the boy. "Just long enough for you to swim through the water before surfacing and taking a quick breath of air."

"Oh, I get it," Odd exclaimed, light dawning on his face. "So when I go into the water, I hold my breath. And then I stick my head out into the air before holding my breath again."

"Exactly," Jeremy confirmed matter-of-factually before the little group was interrupted by Jim's boisterous proclamation.

"Alright, Odd Stones! You're up next!" The gym teacher instructed thunderously. "Get in the pool and show me what you've got!"

"You remember the strokes I told you about, right?" Aelita asked Odd before he departed. The eccentric blond gave her a reassuring smile and a big thumbs up.

"Don't worry, princess, I've got it covered."

Although still obviously reluctant to enter the water, Odd boldly stepped up to the pool's edge, took in a deep breath, and plunged, rather gracefully all things considered, into the body of water. Over the next several minutes, even amidst Jim shouting a multitude of commands and rebuttals towards Odd resembling, "Alright, now free-style! No, _free-style_! Haven't you ever swam before!? That's a breaststroke! No, that's backstroke! I said free-style for crying out loud! What is _that!_? Can't you hear me!?", it was clear that the former-feline was obviously beginning to enjoy the concept of swimming.

"Well, I'm glad I'm not the _only_ one that's bad at swimming," Jeremy leaned over and muttered to Aelita. Of course, she knew he was more glad that Jim was yelling at someone besides him, as Odd appeared to be quite a capable swimmer. A few moments later, the pinkette said just as much.

"Well, to be fair," Aelita began honestly enough. "He's not that bad. He just keeps forgetting which stroke is which." She paused for a moment in consideration before adding. "Although he does lack some structure. He keeps making up strokes of his own."

"Eh, well, I'm just glad Jim's yelling at someone else for a change," Jeremy shrugged in reply, and Aelita had to grin to herself. If anyone could take Jim's verbal mortars, it was Odd. And eventually it was Jim who got tired of yelling, finally giving up and calling Odd out of the pool.

"Stones, I don't know what to think of you. Are you trying to get yourself into trouble?"

"Sorry?" Odd asked innocently, genuinely confused.

"Don't play with me, Odd," Jim retorted indignantly. "When I tell you to do a free-style stroke, you do a free-style stroke!"

"It's not his fault, Jim," Aelita chimed in suddenly, before Odd could say something clueless that would have him landed in detention. "He doesn't swim a lot - well, not organized swimming anyways. He just needs to learn which strokes are which."

Jim glanced between the two of them dubiously, hand on his chin. Finally he reached a decision and conceded. "Alright, I'll let it pass today, but you better learn which stroke is which!"

"Will do, Jim!" Odd grinned enthusiastically, clearly glad to be off the hook. "Man, is he always like that?" Odd asked as soon as he had walked over to Aelita and Jeremy.

"Oh no," Jeremy deadpanned. "Sometimes he's actually loud." Aelita could only let out a flurry of giggles at the expression on Odd's face.

* * *

Hiroki stood underneath one of the few trees which dotted Kadic's courtyard, his best friend Johnny standing beside him. They were at present discussing a certain Milly Solovief as they waited for the next class period to begin.

"Go on, you should talk to her!" Johnny encouraged Hiroki. The Japanese boy felt only a wave of embarrassment and apprehension at the thought. It wasn't that Hiroki didn't want to - because he certainly did. The fact of the matter was, that he felt like he would just trip over his tongue and make a fool of himself.

"I can't do that!" Hiroki hissed anxiously, casting a glance over to the girl in question, who was currently dressed in light brown shorts, a blue blouse that alternated from dark to sky blue from the waist upwards which nearly reached the belt loops of her shorts but not quite, a long magenta scarf which wrapped itself around her neck and hung down to about her hips, and finally a pair of pink-star earrings that dangled from her head. All of which, Hiroki thought, made her look quite pretty.

"Sure you can," Johnny coaxed once more, seeming to be completely oblivious to why Hiroki couldn't _just_ walk up to Milly and strike up a conversation. "I mean, why get advice from that William fellow anyways?"

The day before, Hiroki had bumped into an older class-man by the name of William, having been too distracted by Milly to watch where he was going. Fortunately for Hiroki, William wasn't too upset. Unfortunately for him, William quickly realized why Hiroki had been distracted. The older boy had managed to get Hiroki talking about it, and in the end had been able to give the younger boy some advice.

"You make it sound like a went _to_ him!" Hiroki huffed indignantly. "Besides, he told me I should find out what her interests are."

"And?" Johnny prompted after a few moments of silence. Hiroki shot an annoyed look at his friend.

"And I found out that she's really into journalism and stuff," Hiroki announced before adding, "See that girl next to her? That's Tamiya. Their partners in the Kadic Newspaper."

"So? You know what she likes. Why not talk to her?"

"Because I can't just _talk_ to her," Hiroki rolled his eyes exasperated. "I've got to get a really good news scoop. If I do that, she's sure to notice me."

"Well, where are you gonna get a scoop from?" Johnny shrugged nonchalantly. At that moment, a group of four people walked into the courtyard consisting of Kadic's resident teacher's pet, Jeremy, a girl with striking pink hair that couldn't have been natural, a rather flamboyant blond with a patch of purple dyed into his hair, and finally, much to Hiroki's surprise, William. They all seemed to be deep in conversation as they headed over to one of the many benches.

"I think I know," Hiroki replied, his eyes following the strange group across the courtyard. Pointing towards the shortest one, the eccentric-looking blond, Hiroki asked, "Who's that? I've never seen him before."

"Well, we've only been here for a few days," Johnny pointed out before following Hiroki's gaze and adding, "That's Odd Stones. He's new here. I heard he was, like, a relative of Aelita's or something. The pink-haired girl."

"A relative?" Hiroki glanced over at his friend in surprise before looking back once more at Odd and Aelita. "Where's he from?" The two didn't seem to be that related.

"I think I heard he's from Canada or something," Johnny shrugged before adding, noting the look on Hiroki's face and the tone in his voice, "What're you thinking?"

"I think I might have a scoop for Milly," Hiroki announced, partially to himself. Before he could elaborate though, the school bell rang, and he and Johnny had to go to class.

* * *

William, Aelita, and Jeremy watched in a mixture of astonishment and disgust as Odd wolfed down his third helping of meatballs and gravy. Actually, technically speaking this was his fourth helping, if you counted the fact that he had commandeered Aelita's meal, as Rosa had absolutely refused to let the pinkette enter the cafeteria without taking some food. Apparently the cafeteria lady remembered well Aelita's apparent lack of appetite from the previous year. And so now Odd was on his fourth helping, and all William could say was, "Where are you putting all of this?"

The enthusiastically hungry blond paused for a moment, considering, before answering with a mouth full of gravy and meatballs, "Uh, my lungs I think? Or was it my stomach? I can't remember."

Aelita faced palmed heavily at this and muttered exasperated through her fingers, "Odd, food goes to the stomach, air goes to the lungs. We've been over this." Odd began to open his mouth and reply but Aelita quickly held out her other hand to stop him. "And please, Odd, swallow your food before you speak."

Odd thankfully swallowed his food before saying, after a loud gulp, "Sure thing, princess, whatever you say," his eyes darted over to Jeremy's plate, which remained half eaten. Odd pointed at the other boy's food."You gonna eat any of that?"

Jeremy glanced down at his food as if he had forgotten it was there - or that it had even existed. The he deliberately slid his plate over to Odd and replied ruefully, "Uh, no, I think I lost my appetite."

With more food in arms' reach, Odd quickly tucked in. Taking a few more moments to watch Odd in stunned silence, William turned his attention over to Aelita.

"So how was vacation?" He asked, more to change the subject that anything else. Aelita shrugged in response.

"Oh, pretty uneventful," Aelita waved casually. "Just the occasional monster here and there. And, of course, everything else." A thought appeared to cross her mind and she turned to Jeremy. "Speaking of vacation, how was Kiwi?"

Jeremy groaned at the thought of the mischievous little dog. "A regular monster," he moaned, much to Aelita's feigned insult. "My parents liked him well enough - they said you should come and visit sometime, by the way - but he kept chewing on my slippers and tearing up my...um, clothes. Needless to say, I'd be glad to hand him back."

Aelita twisted her head to look at William once more.

"Feel up for it?" She smiled convincingly. William rolled his shoulders in a shrug. Until Aelita could remain on Earth full time, it had fallen on Jeremy and then William to take care of Kiwi.

"No problem," William agreed amiably, glancing over at Odd in the process. "Though maybe if Odd decides to stay on Earth permanently, he can take a swing at it."

"Well, they certainly have some things in common," Jeremy interjected. Aelita and William turned to him and gave him a questioning glance, and so he elaborated with a shrug. "They're both loud, obnoxious, and have the metabolism of a blast furnace."

* * *

Ulrich wandered through the forest, his katanas now sheathed, as he searched for opponents to battle. Initially he had managed to find a few of the bloks that had driven him and his allies into to Carthage, but ever since then he had yet to find another monster. Sorely disappointed, the samurai had swung by Aelita's tower, which now glowed light pink under the angel's control, before heading off to the other side of the Forest Sector. Unfortunately, by the time he reached the westernmost edge, he still had yet to find any of the offending bloks - or any other form of monster for that matter. With a sigh of assessment, Ulrich conceded to the lack of monsters.

"Guess we'll just have to do this ourselves," Ulrich muttered before intoning, "Triplicate!"

Two yellow blurs shot from his body and coalesced into two mirror images of himself. Drawing his swords, with his clones doing likewise, Ulrich smirked to himself. Who needed monsters when he had the best sparring partners a warrior could ask for? At his command, the duplicates began to attack their main image, not holding back as they loosed their assault. And as Ulrich sparred with the other two samurai, his mind cleared, as it always did when he was fighting. For whatever reason, fighting just helped him think. Pretty soon, however, his thoughts turned to the mysterious girl he had met in Carthage.

At the thought of Yumi, the samurai stumbled in his rhythm and instantly regretted it as he felt the sharp sting of a katana graze his arm. He quickly parried the next few blows in angry retaliation. There was no threat of him being devirtualized by his counterparts, they were him after all, but all the same.

Once he had control of his emotions, Ulrich began to ponder and question his decision to keep the knowledge of Yumi's existence from Aelita and the others. Was it really the right thing? After all, they had yet to lie to him, and Aelita had certainly been kind enough to him. Did they really deserve to be kept in the dark about another Lyoko Guardian? Especially if they were Lyoko Guardians as well?

This question sent the samurai into quiet contemplation, until finally he recalled his clones back to him, and headed for the nearest tower for regeneration. And as he walked, he thought about the Lyoko Wanderers and Yumi and what would happen if those two ended up on opposite sides.

* * *

Odd had just finished talking to rather cute blond-haired girl named Heidi Klinger, who just so happened to be wearing a rather pretty, if not flamboyant, array of magenta and purple clothes. As the two parted ways, Heidi giggling at something and Odd left wondering at what, the eccentric blond found himself almost face-to-face with a young dark-haired boy who had an air of self-confidence and mischief. Something seemed slightly different about the boy compared to the other humans he had seen. It took Odd a moment to realize that the boy's eyes were...slanted? He wasn't sure of how to describe it. The closest thing he had to context was that on Lyoko, Aelita's ears were different than the rest of them. It was a subtle difference, but, as with this boy, the differences were still there and added a sense of enigma to both the boy and Aelita.

"Hey, you're Odd, right? Odd Stones?" The raven-haired boy asked, although from the assured tone of his question, it sounded as if it were more a formality. Odd stared at the boy for a moment before replying.

"Um...yeah. That's me. Odd Stones," Odd responded hesitantly. "Who're you?"

"Name's Hiroki," Hiroki announced with a friendly smile, which Odd returned. "I heard you're new around here."

"Yep," Odd nodded his head. "Are you new here too?"

Hiroki shrugged casually. "I guess you could say that. It's my first year at Kadic, anyways, so I've got a few days under my belt."

Odd recognized the saying, for he had used it before, and while he had been meaning to ask Aelita the question, he saw no harm in getting an early answer.

"What's a belt?" Odd asked curiously. Hiroki gave him a puzzled look, as if people didn't usually ask what things were. Then again, maybe on Earth they didn't.

"Um, you mean you don't know what a _belt_ is?" Hiroki inquired for confirmation, as if not quite believing what the blond had said.

"Nope," Odd shook his head emphatically. "We...uh, we don't have them where I come from. At least...I don't think we do."

"What? You think?" Hiroki asked rhetorically. A ponderous look rippled across his face before he added, "Where are you from anyways?"

"I'm from...uh, I'm from...," Odd wracked his brain for the name of the place Aelita had given him. Finally he landed on what he thought was it. "Uh...Candia."

Hiroki gave him another one of those strange glances before asking, "You mean Canada?"

Odd mentally slapped himself in the head. He should have paid more attention when Aelita was drilling him on what to reply to questions. The blond hadn't realized people would be this curious. "Uh, yeah, that's what I meant," he corrected hastily. "Canada."

"Uh, huh," Hiroki responded, sounding a tad bit dubious. Fortunately the barely smaller boy changed the subject, surveying Odd's clothes in the process. "I guess you've played Kung-Fu Commando, huh?"

"The Kufu whatsitnow?" Odd asked, completely befuddled by the term Hiroki had so casually tossed to him. Hiroki appeared less puzzled by this than with Odd's other impulsive outbursts. That being said, he did still have a brief start of surprise.

"Kung-Fu Commando," he repeated, as if saying it again would jog Odd's memory. When the boy got no response from the former feline, he elaborated. "It's a video game. You know? I just thought you'd played it before. You're clothes look kinda like some of the styles in it."

"I've never seen a video game before," Odd replied truthfully, earning an astonished eye raise from Hiroki. "William's told me about them though. He said they're kinda like Lyoko only not as good." Odd's eyes widened slightly as he realized that he had just blurted out the very secret he was supposed to be keeping. And while he could hope Hiroki hadn't caught on to it, he was sorely disappointed a few seconds later.

"Lyoko?" Hiroki asked curiously, his eyes gleaming with interest as if he knew he had discovered some great secret. Odd struggled for a response.

"Um, I, uh, I mean Canada," Odd stammered awkwardly and, following a skeptical look from Hiroki, added, "I mean, uh, it's a place _in_ Canada. It's where I'm from."

"And William thought it was like a video game?" Hiroki asked incredulously, having apparently bought Odd's alibi. The eccentric blond let out a small sigh of relief.

"Um, yeah," Odd searched for a more elaborate response. "He said they had similar, um, graphics - I mean, he said they looked a lot alike!"

"Huh, okay," Hiroki responded blankly before suddenly changing topics. "So what do you do for fun if you don't have any video games?"

Fortunately that was easy to answer, but as Odd opened his mouth to respond, a voice caught his attention.

"Hey, Odd, who's that with you?" Aelita asked as she walked across the courtyard with Jeremy trailing behind her. The other blond appeared to be walking as fast as he could, nearly jogging, but was still unable to keep pace with Aelita's energetic stride.

"Oh, hi, Aelita!" Odd greeted the spectral girl cheerfully before motioning towards Hiroki with a hand. "This is Hiroki. He's new here like me."

"Well hello, Hiroki. I'm Aelita Stones - Odd's cousin," Aelita greeted the younger boy amiably. She put forward one of her hands and the boy took it, shaking it.

"Nice to meet you," Hiroki responded confidently. Before anyone could speak further, the bell rang, and Hiroki scampered off with a final, "Oops, there's the bell. Gotta go!"

"So who was that?" Jeremy asked after Hiroki had sprinted past him. Aelita gestured for Odd to relay the introductions and he did so gladly.

"That's Hiroki. He's a new student here."

"I guessed that much. He must be entering sixth grade." Jeremy noted with a nod. "What were you guys talking about anyways?"

"Oh, not much," Odd shrugged nonchalantly, assured with himself that he had managed to convince Hiroki of his normality. "Just belts and video games and stuff like that."

Jeremy raised an eyebrow at this but said nothing more than, "Well, come on. We'd better hurry or else we'll be late for class."

* * *

Hiroki searched through the dorms desperately looking for Odd. He had managed to find out Odd's dorm room number from some of his friends, but the strange blond hadn't been there. Hiroki had then tried Jeremy Belpois' room but with no luck. When the ace student had asked why Hiroki was looking for Odd, Hiroki had merely shrugged and said, "Just wanted to talk about Kung-Fu Commando - it's a video game I think Odd'll really like."

He had been tempted to simply say that he just wanted to talk about video games, but something urged him not to sound so vague. For whatever reason, that little group was keeping something about Odd secret. After all, he clearly wasn't from Canada. Not to mention the fact that Hiroki was pretty sure there was no such place as Lyoko, Canada anyways. If anything it sounded like somewhere in Japan, but he hadn't lived there long enough to really know. Besides, Odd had clearly been lying about being from the country anyways. Hiroki knew a lie when he saw one. After all, he had told enough of them himself.

But where the whole conspiracy really heated up was with Aelita. Hiroki had thought that Kadic's gym teacher, Jim, would never shut up about how Aelita could be one of the best athletes in Kadic if only she would sign up. And while not being into sports is one thing, when he had asked Aelita, having figuratively bumped into her in the hallway, why she didn't sign up, the older girl had just given him the vague answer of, "I'm not ready yet." The weird part was, Hiroki couldn't tell if she was lying or not. The disturbing fact was that something just seemed...off about Aelita. Hiroki couldn't quite put a finger on it, and he doubt many other people even noticed, but there was definitely something different about the pinkette. And Hiroki should know, he had gotten good at reading people - it was something that came with being a pathological prankster.

But even as he considered the two supposed cousins, Hiroki's search for Odd had been fruitless, and with a sigh of defeat he trudged out of the dormitory. If he was lucky, then his parents wouldn't be too mad about how late he was.

"Hey, Hiroki!" An enthusiastic voice called from across the courtyard. Hiroki glanced up in surprise to see the very boy he had been looking for walking towards him. Apparently Odd had been wandering about the premises of Kadic and, upon returning to the dormitory, had noticed Hiroki.

"Hey, Odd," Hiroki responded triumphantly as he walked hurriedly over to the eccentric blond. "I was actually just looking for you!"

"Really?" Odd tipped his head in puzzlement. "Why? What's going on?"

Hiroki decided to ignore the strange tone in Odd's voice and instead head straight to the point. If anything, being blunt was probably the best way to get Odd off balance and obtain some useful info.

"Oh, nothing much, I just wanted to know where you're really from," Hiroki replied casually. His nonchalant delivery of the statement had the desired affect, and, from the slightly panicked look in the older boy's eyes, Hiroki knew that his gamble had paid off.

"W-what do you mean?" Odd stammered nervously, his eyes darting to the side, as if contemplating escape. Hiroki quickly stepped in the direction the blond had been looking to dispel any such thoughts.

"You know what I mean," Hiroki announced smugly. "You're not _really_ from Canada. And even if you were, there's certainly no place called Lyoko there." Feeling confident from his previous triumph, Hiroki decided to go out on a limb that this 'Lyoko' place, or whatever it was, was indeed actually where Odd was from. "So what is 'Lyoko', anyways? Because I'm pretty sure there's no place on Earth called that." Hiroki wasn't really sure of that, but he felt that the statement would help further push Odd off balance. Little did he know how right he was.

"H-how do you know that?" Odd gasped in surprise, before quickly realizing his mistake and attempting to amend it. "I mean, uh, what makes you think that?"

"Other than that little outburst of yours?" Hiroki grinned cheekily, earning him a frustrated grimace from Odd. "Probably because it doesn't sound like any place in Canada, and the fact that from the sound of it you got that name from a video game. So, you gonna tell me the truth, or not?" Hiroki raised a pretentious eyebrow at the challenge, but was inwardly hoping he had not gone too far. So needless to say, he was quite relieved when Odd gave a furtive glance at their surrounding, no doubt to make sure no one else was nearby, before leaning in and whispering to Hiroki.

"Look, I'm not supposed to tell you, okay?" Odd hissed urgently. "It's a secret, and it has to stay that way!"

"Well, I mean, I'm good at keeping secrets," Hiroki rubbed his forefinger and thumb together, pretending not to pay the older boy much mind. "But, you're not supposed keep secrets from the school staff." Hiroki paused for emphasis before adding. "And, of course, as a student here I _am_ supposed to inform the teachers of anything that might cause problems." At this, Odd's eyes widened with something akin to terror, and Hiroki was forced to wonder what on Earth this secret could possibly be. He forged forward, however, and conceded pointedly. "But naturally if I just happened to be keeping a secret too, then, well, I could hardly just tell anyone about it, now could I?"

Odd glowered at the younger boy. "That's black mail and you know it." He protested grumpily. Hiroki simply grinned cheekily in response, and finally Odd sighed in defeat. "If I tell, then do you promise to keep it a secret, too?" Hiroki nodded eagerly, and for once Odd seemed to be deadly serious. "It's important that you do. People's lives could depend on it. My friends' lives could, too," the blond emphasized solemnly, and for once Hiroki felt like he was out of his league. Despite his uncertainty, however, Hiroki nodded, his face hardened in determination.

Odd pursed his lips nervously before beginning. "You're right, I'm not from Canada, and neither is Aelita," at this his eyes darted furtively about once more. "We're from a place called Lyoko."

"Where on Earth is that?" Hiroki wondered out loud, and the older boy's answer completely blindsided him.

"It's not on Earth," Odd negated, shaking his head. Hiroki stared at the blond confused, but before he could say anything, Odd continued. "It's a...uh, a virtual reality. At least, I think that's what Aelita called it. It's contained within a coretum computer - or something like that."

"You mean a quantum computer?" Hiroki asked. He had heard about them a bit from his father, but from the way his father spoke, Hiroki had been sure that it had been just a theory. This was dashed apart by Odd's next revelation.

"Yeah," Odd nodded emphatically. "That's it. Aelita says it's a very powerful and special type of computer."

"Okay," Hiroki nodded, sorting away the information as best he could. Odd appeared to be telling the truth, but something about his story seemed off. "But how can you two be _from_ a virtual reality."

"It's our home," Odd answered simply and, upon receiving Hiroki's blank expression, elaborated, "We were created to be its guardians, in a way. Aelita says we're...um, artificial intelligences? Something like that, anyways. We were all locked in there until Jeremy found the computer and turned it back on."

"Okay, that's cool, but _how_ are you here if you're just supposed to be a program?" Hiroki asked, pressing into the part of Odd's story that didn't make sense. Odd eyes lit up with the realization of what Hiroki had really been asking.

"Oh, that's easy," Odd replied casually, almost seeming relieved by the supposed simplicity of it. "There are these things called scanners which can virtualize people and send them into Lyoko. Except Jeremy found out how to bring people _from_ Lyoko, as well."

Hiroki pondered this for a moment, and while he wanted to ask more questions, before he did so, Hiroki needed some proof that Odd wasn't a better liar than he thought and wasn't just pulling his leg.

"Okay, that all sounds very interesting," Hiroki began slowly, noting the confusion on Odd's face at his tone. "But how do I know you're not lying to me?"

"I'm not!" Odd protested vigorously, and seemingly contrite. "I swear I'm not."

"Okay, then show me." Hiroki proposed simply. And from the look on Odd's face, Hiroki could tell that convincing the older boy to take him was going to be another long argument in and of itself.

* * *

Odd climbed up the ladder that led to the factory. After revealing Lyoko to Hiroki, it had not taken long for the smaller boy to convince Odd to show him the factory, if only to distract Hiroki long enough for Odd to get a hold of Jeremy and get him to do that return to the past thing Aelita was always talking about. Even though she had told him it would empower Xana, Odd was pretty sure having Hiroki run around knowing about Lyoko would be worse, despite the fact that he had started taking a liking to the spunky, and now obvious to Odd, mischievous boy.

"So why can't you guys just turn off the supercomputer and stop Xana?" Hiroki asked from below him as Odd climbed over the edge of the manhole and onto the bridge. The younger boy seemed intent to pick apart everything Odd had said. And to be honest, Odd did not mind answering his questions. It was a whole lot more conversation than he got with either Aelita or Ulrich. Especially Ulrich. And so, Odd had told his new curious friend about the Lyoko Wanderers and Xana on their journey through the tunnel.

"Because if we did, Aelita would die," Odd replied simply, and perhaps more harshly than intended. Greeted with the following silence, Odd quickly elaborated. "When she was first materialized, Xana planted a virus in her making it so when he dies, so does she."

"I see, so no turning off the supercomputer, huh?" Hiroki confirmed as Odd helped him up. "And definitely no telling anyone," Hiroki sounded a bit disappointed at this. Odd frowned as he realized that this entire time Hiroki had been meaning to tell.

"You mean you were going to tell someone?" Odd turned on the smaller boy angrily. Hiroki glanced away regretfully.

"Just Milly," the boy muttered sheepishly, before glancing back up at Odd. "I thought if I could get her a scoop for her newspaper then maybe she'd notice me."

Suddenly Odd realized what was going on. After all, he had seen it enough with Jeremy and Aelita. And therefore, he saw a potential source for a well-meaning and well-deserved jest. "Oh, so you _like_ her, huh?" Odd grinned cheekily.

"And how would you know?" Hiroki glowered petulantly, and Odd grinned all the more, knowing he had hit a nerve.

"Well, I might not know personally," Odd shrugged. "But I've had plenty of experience watching Aelita and Jeremy dance around each other." With that, Odd whirled back around, making his way to the factory once more.

"Wait," Hiroki called as he jogged to catch up. "You mean Jeremy fell for a virtual girl? Seriously?"

"Hey, what's wrong with being virtual?" Odd protested indignantly, and Hiroki quickly amended his statement.

"Nothing," he said hastily. "It just seems kinda funny, that's all."

"Eh, more like painful," Odd half grunted, half exclaimed as he swung down to the factory floor. "Those two can barely admit it to each other with glowing red. It's really weird."

"What? You mean you don't know what blushing is?" Hiroki called down before swinging to the floor himself. "No, I guess you wouldn't, huh?" Hiroki reasoned once he hit the floor. "People do it when they're embarrassed or something."

"Huh," Odd pondered as he walked over to the elevator, grasped for the number combination that would be needed at the bottom, and entered the lift with Hiroki close behind. A thought crossing his mind, Odd added something more to his earlier statement. "Anyways, back to shutting down Xana. Jeremy still hasn't materialized Ulrich yet."

"Whose Ulrich?" Hiroki asked as the elevator jerked downwards. Odd hesitated briefly before shrugging. After all, if the kid's memory was going to be wiped anyways then it didn't matter what Odd told him.

"Aelita and me aren't the only Lyoko Guardians. There are four sectors in all - well, five if you count Carthage," at this Odd shuddered. "Aelita's from the Forest Sector. I'm from the Ice Sector. Ulrich's from the Desert Sector. And we don't even _know_ what the other sector is." This brought up another good point, so Odd voiced it. "Which is another good reason we can't just turn off the supercomputer. We have to find the last Lyoko Guardian first and materialize them."

"Oh, I see," Hiroki commented. "So you guys sound like you need some help."

"We've got William," Odd shrugged as the elevator rattled to a halt and he began hesitantly and slowly entering the key code.

"Yeah, well he's just one person, and...," whatever Hiroki had been about to say was cut off by a gasp of awe at the revealing of the computer lab, and the next few minutes consisted of the now hyperactive boy rushing here and there as if trying to see everything at once. As he watched, Odd briefly wondered if this is what the others thought he was like.

Finally the smaller boy calmed down enough to exclaim excitedly to Odd, "Wow, you were actually telling the truth." At this point, Hiroki rapidly regained his composure and held out a hand in confession. "Now, I admit I was a bit skeptical at first, but this place is awesome!" Hiroki's eyes shone as he gazed around the room before excitedly turning to Odd. "You have to take me to Lyoko!"

This had not been what Odd had expected at all, and so when he spoke, Odd's voice was unsure. "I don't think I should, Hiroki. Not without Jeremy's permission at least."

"Ah, come on, Odd," Hiroki protested, a pleading tone in his voice. "You're the one who lives on Lyoko not Jeremy! Besides," Hiroki added slyly. "I bet you could use someone whose really good at video games, and that's me!"

"But we already have William," Odd protested halfheartedly. In all honesty, he was not as against Hiroki going to Lyoko as he would have thought. It was probably a consequence of being alone for so long, and the fact that he and Hiroki seemed to have a lot in common.

"But he's just one guy," Hiroki pointed out. "Imagine if you had two! We could get to that last sector and no time." Hiroki then quickly added, "And I won't tell anyone, I promise. Not even Milly, as much as it pains me."

Odd gazed at the smaller boy, who currently had a nearly irresistible pleading tone in his eyes, for a few moments, pondering his words. Odd had to admit that Hiroki had a point. With more people they could certainly get to the other sectors faster. And besides, it couldn't hurt if Hiroki took a little visit to Lyoko. After all, Jeremy could just do the return trip thing anyways. And so with that, Odd walked over to the supercomputer interface and made up his mind.

"Alright, let's do it," Odd announced firmly, eliciting a wide grin from Hiroki, who could barely contain his excitement. "If only I could find that program Aelita made for me...ah, here it is!"

Aelita had made a program for the case where Odd wanted to, or more likely needed to, return to Lyoko. In short, it was a program designed so that Odd could click it and a timed materialization would begin. Hiroki frowned slightly as he glanced over Odd's shoulders and squinted at the screen.

"Why is it called 'odddontyoudarescrewthisup'?" Hiroki asked, genuinely puzzled. Odd glanced at the boy, slightly embarrassed. Aelita had clearly had enough of his skill, or of course lack thereof, with programs.

"Uh, no reason, just a, um, inside joke," Odd quickly ad libbed before wondering out loud. "Let's see, what was the password again? Oh, yes, that's it!" And with that Odd activated the program. It was Hiroki, however, who noticed some of the more complex features.

"Set that to two," Hiroki instructed Odd, pointing to one of the side interfaces. Odd frowned at this.

"But Aelita told me to simply press the execute button and nothing else," Odd informed Hiroki. The other boy rolled his eyes slightly and pointed again.

"Set that to two if you want _both_ of us to go. Otherwise it'll just send you," Hiroki pointed out. Odd hesitated for a few moments before doing as the smaller boy said and pressing execute. Instantly two timers popped up on the screen.

"Okay, let's get going to these scanners!" Hiroki exclaimed, realizing what the timers meant, and dragging Odd towards the elevator.

Within a matter of minutes, the two boys had entered the lower chamber and each stepped into a scanner. Odd grinned over to Hiroki. "Get ready for the trip of your life!" Odd exclaimed exuberantly, his mood all the more improved by the brief flash of uncertainty on Hiroki's face as the scanner doors closed on both of them and the virtualization process began.

* * *

Aelita was in her dorm room when the thrumming echoes of the pulsations echoed through her mind. Jerked away from her homework, Aelita did not even have to withdraw from her spectral form to realize what the ominous sound meant. 'I need to get the others!' Aelita thought urgently, as she stood up hastily, and perhaps a bit too forcefully as her chair was sent skidding back into the door before splintering in multiple places.

"Whoops," Aelita muttered to herself before opening the door from her room and turning to race down the hallway.

"What's all that racket?" Sissi crankily demanded, peeking her head out from within her room.

"Just trip over my chair," Aelita called back absentmindedly, paying no heed to the following _Hmmph!_ and the sound of a door slamming. Running as fast as she dared, Aelita soon made it to Jeremy's door. Not bothering to knock, and having already noticed that there was no one else in the corridor, Aelita simply phased through Jeremy's door.

"Gah!" Jeremy shouted in surprise, and Aelita realized that in her time on Lyoko she had gotten accustomed to barging in on Odd and Ulrich, and that she probably should have knocked. Fortunately, Jeremy was simply at his computer as usual. "Aelita! You almost gave me a heart attack! Don't ever do that again!"

"Sorry," Aelita breathed in apology. "I guess I've kinda forgotten some things." Shaking her head to clear her thoughts, Aelita cut straight to the point. "I'm hearing pulsations. Xana's woken up."

Jeremy took this in stride, nodded, and commanded calmly, "Alright, you tell Odd and send him to the factory. I'll get William and will met Odd there. Once you've sent him return to Lyoko, get Ulrich, and locate the tower. Do not approach it until William, Odd, and I get there, understood?"

"Understood," Aelita nodded firmly, before phasing through the wall of Jeremy's room and into Odd's. She knew the eccentric blond would be relatively unbothered by her lack of courtesy. That is, if he was there. Aelita glanced around the room in surprise. Where was Odd? As she thought this, an image surged through her mind of Odd in the Ice Sector, and Aelita knew that this must be where Odd was, as in this state of meditation she was deeply in coherence with Lyoko. The only question the pinkette could think of, was why Odd was in the Ice Sector.

And with that, Aelita deactivated her specter and awoke on Lyoko, determined to find Ulrich and then pry the reason out of Odd as to why he had returned to Lyoko. And he had better have a good reason.

* * *

The light that had nearly blinded him in the scanners, not to mention the rushing current of air, subsided and Hiroki felt a strange bodiless sensation which was slowly disappearing from his neck down. As his eyes cleared, they widened at the sight of the icy land that stretched out before him, and the fact that he was suspended about three meters above the ground. Letting out a cry of shock, Hiroki plummeted to the ground, only to painfully land on his rear end with a resounding thud. Odd, on the other hand, although never have been virtualized before, still managed to land as gracefully as a cat, his tail lashed in satisfaction.

Hiroki froze in shock. _Tail?_ He stared at the purple-suited blonde in front of him, who was currently brushing himself off and inspecting himself. Odd was indeed a giant purple cat, complete with ears, tail, and paws.

"Let's see," Odd muttered to himself as he twisted this way and that to get a thorough look at his body. "Two arms, two legs, and one tail, all here!" Odd let out a sigh of relief at the sight of his tail. "Ah, so good to have a tail again."

"You have a tail," Hiroki said blankly, even though he knew that, all things considered, he probably should have expected something like this.

"Yeah? What of it?" Odd retorted indignantly before asking curiously, "What are you, anyways?"

At this, Hiroki realized that he had not even wondered at what his form might be. Glancing down, Hiroki saw that he wore a dark navy blue shinobi shōzoku tinted with a dark maroon coloring - the outfit most people associated with the shinobi. On top of that, Hiroki had two bright red tenugui fluttering from his forehead and waist.

Speaking of his waist, draped and hanging from his hips was a scythe-like weapon attached to a rather long chain that ended in a heavy metal ball. Taking the chain in one hand, Hiroki quickly realized with enthusiasm that it was a kusari-gama.

"Awesome," Hiroki breathed, as he held up the wickedly sharp scythe and grinned. Then he realized that he had yet to actually answer Odd's questions. Surveying himself once more and replacing his scythe as best he could, Hiroki finally addressed the feline. "It looks like I'm a...uh, shinobi of some sort. A ninja," Hiroki clarified at Odd's puzzled expression, although given the circumstances, Hiroki wasn't sure if Odd even knew what that word was either.

Gesturing to himself with his hands, Hiroki noticed something else about his form. Strapped to his hands were what appeared to be small spikes. Looking closely, Hiroki realized they were shobo. 'Could come in handy, I guess,' Hiroki shrugged to himself. Suddenly a tremor rumbled through the ground.

"What was that?" Hiroki asked in surprise, glancing over at Odd, who was currently wide-eyed.

"A pulsation," Odd replied promptly. "Xana's activated a tower in the Ice Sector."

"That's bad, right?" Hiroki asked, somewhat unsure, a hand draped over his kusari-gama.

"Oh yeah, that's bad," Odd confirmed before turning to survey the horizon to determine where the pulsations were headed.

* * *

Jeremy kept up as best he could with William as they rode through the sewer tunnel that led to the factory. Jeremy, as was customary, was riding his scooter, while William had his skateboard.

"Do you know what the attack is?" William called over his shoulder.

"No idea," Jeremy shook his head, "Hopefully we won't have to find out."

"Maybe," William replied sagely. "But sometimes not knowing is worse."

"If you say so," Jeremy shrugged, or at least as much as he could while riding a scooter. "Speaking of not knowing, I think I've found another, rather interesting, feature of your sword, Zweihänder."

"Oh, and what's that?" William asked, genuinely curious.

"I think it may be able to allow you to levitate," Jeremy reported bluntly. William's skateboard swerved under his feet as he heard this.

"What do you mean?" William asked in disbelief. "You mean I'll be able to fly?"

"More or less," Jeremy conceded reluctantly as they came to a stop next to the ladder and made their way up it. "I doubt it'll be fast as the vehicles, but with enough concentration you should be able to."

"Well, that's cool and interesting and what-not," William said, his voice carrying a tone of distraction as he stepped onto the bridge. "But I think I'll have to postpone testing it out."

As Jeremy climbed onto the bridge himself, he saw what the older boy was referring to. Standing on the bridge before them was a man dressed as a construction worker. But that was not the concerning part. The concerning part was that the man's eyes bore the symbol of Xana. Noticing their approach, the possessed worker turned towards them menacingly.

"Go, get to the supercomputer," William ordered tersely. "I'll deal with this guy."

"Are you sure?" Jeremy asked, glancing uncertainly at the Xanafied man, but William nodded in determination.

"Go, get Aelita to the tower and deactivate it," William then indicated the man's equipment. "That guy's a demolition worker. He probably set explosives all over the place."

"But why would...," the reason for Xana's actions struck Jeremy like lightning. "Of course, Xana isn't trying to destroy the factory, he's trying to block us from reaching the supercomputer."

"Then go, I'll take care of this goon, and see if I can't defuse the explosives just in case," Seeing the doubt in Jeremy eyes, William added. "My uncle worked with explosives - he taught me a thing or two." William then waved a hand, motioning for Jeremy to get moving. "Now go!"

Without another word, knowing that every second counted, Jeremy nodded and used the distraction William provided to sneak past their foe and swing down to the factory floor with a thud and a grunt, before racing towards the elevator. As he did so, Jeremy vaguely wondered where Odd was.

* * *

Ulrich was sitting on one of the many mossy rocks that dotted the forest clearing, resting from a finally successful monster hunt, where he had rapidly dispatched a half dozen bloks, when Aelita's tower faded from pink to blue and the aforementioned angel emerged from the tower.

Ulrich glanced up from the sword he had been scrutinizing in surprise at the pinkette's appearance.

"Back so soon?" He asked, standing up and sheathing his katana in one fluid motion. "What's up?"

"Xana's activated a tower in the Ice Sector," Aelita reported grimly. "I have to go and help Odd and William - not to mention deactivate the tower."

With that the virtual angel turned to walk back into the tower. Realizing that Aelita still did not expect him to come to their aid so readily, Ulrich jogged forward.

"Hold up," Ulrich called out to her, and Aelita turned around hopefully. "I'm coming, too," he shrugged. "I figure you could use some help. If you'll have me, of course."

"Of course," Aelita smiled warmly, as the two made their way into the tower and to the Ice Sector, where with any luck Ulrich would be able to clear his mind. Sitting in the clearing doing nothing had done everything but calm his nerves. Standing side by side with Aelita, the two guardians plunged into the void within the towers and to their destination and the tower that awaited.

* * *

Odd resisted running on all fours to reach the source of the pulsations, seeing as Hiroki was having a difficult time enough keeping up with his rather awkwardly draped weapon and slightly smaller stature. At present they were crossing the Snowy Plains as fast as possible to reach the activated tower.

"Are we almost there?" Hiroki panted, adjusting his weapon once more and seeming to finally find a reasonable holding for the chain-scythe.

"Almost," Odd replied tersely, before skidding to a halt behind an outcropping of ice. Hastily peeking out from behind the frozen structure, Odd amended his statement, "Check that. We're here."

Hiroki quickly joined him in peering out towards the activated tower, which was covered in a menacing red mist. Surrounding it was a group of monsters.

"What are those?" Hiroki pointed to the creatures in question.

"The small buggy ones are called kankrelats," Odd pointed out the trio of roach-like creatures. "And those three cube-like things are called bloks. You'll want to be careful with those. With one eye they shoot a freezing beam and another fire rings." Then Odd noted the final creature. "And that one's called a tarantula. Aside from the megatanks, they're the most dangerous of Xana's monsters."

"Okay, how do we take them down?" Hiroki wondered enthusiastically, seemingly oblivious to the gravity of the situation.

Odd was about to, for once, be the one to reprimand another for not taking things seriously when suddenly his vision blurred and faded. A vague bodiless feeling flowed through him and suddenly he could see, as clearly as if he were actually out of his body, both himself and Hiroki standing side by side, looking out from behind the ice blocks. Suddenly he grasped his head and Hiroki turned towards him.

"Are you okay, Odd?" Hiroki asked, although his voice was distorted and muffled. And that was when Odd saw the monster. Approaching them from behind was a lone blok. Odd tried to shout a warning but found that he could not speak and was forced to watch as the blok shot an energy bolt towards his new friend.

Suddenly Odd was back in his own body. He gripped the sides of his head, feeling more confused than anything else.

"Are you okay, Odd?" Hiroki seemed to repeat himself, only his voice was now loud and clear. Suddenly, on instinct, Odd knew what he had to do.

"Look out," the feline shouted even as he pounced towards Hiroki, shoving the shinobi out of the way of the blok's attack. "Laser Arrow!" Odd shouted, releasing a volley of the projectiles into the unfortunate, and very surprised, blok. Odd helped Hiroki to his feet as the monster whirled around before shattering into so many pieces.

"Whoa. Thanks Odd," Hiroki breathed gratefully, the shock of nearly being devirtualized grounding him for a moment. "How did you know it was there?"

Odd place a forepaw on his head. "I don't know," he muttered. "There was this flash, and I saw you and me and the blok, and then the blok fired, and then it started all over again. In real life, though."

"Aw, cool! It's like you saw the future!" Hiroki exclaimed enthusiastically. "You didn't tell me you could do that!"

"I didn't know I could," Odd admitted weakly before shaking his head. He would have to have a word with Jeremy later to see if this was his doing. "We have to get moving. We need to take those monsters down if Aelita is going to deactivate the tower."

"If I get devirtualized, I'll be fine, right?" Hiroki asked uncertainly.

"Yep, the only ones in trouble would be me, Aelita, and Ulrich - but we're all pretty used to it," Odd replied nonchalantly.

"Then let's kill some monsters," Hiroki grinned exuberantly, and Odd could not help but share the smaller boy's sentiments and enthusiasm.

* * *

Jeremy took his seat quickly at the supercomputer's interface. Noticing in a glance how odd it was that a program had been run recently, Jeremy donned the headset and rapidly typed in the commands to initiate the connection to Lyoko.

"Aelita, can you hear me?" Jeremy inquired into the microphone. The virtual angel's response was prompt and concise.

"I can hear you, Jeremy. I'm with Ulrich on the Slippery Slopes."

In the background, Jeremy could vaguely hear Ulrich mutter something derogatory concerning said Slippery Slopes. That was not Jeremy's concern, however. What was his concern was locating the activated tower before the factory imploded.

"Alright, listen up," Jeremy called to his virtual friends, locating the activated tower in the process. "The tower's not far from your location. It's in the Snowy Plains, and please do hurry or else the computer lab's going to be buried under a factory ton of rubble." Jeremy paused for a moment to let this sink in - no doubt Aelita and Ulrich were exchanging concerned glances, before adding. "Also, William's taking care of Xana's goon, and as far as I can see Odd hasn't arrived yet." Jeremy glanced at the camera interfaces and, upon seeing his statement was true, had no more to say.

"Oh, I already know where Odd is," Aelita replied both irritably and relieved. "He's in the Ice Sector. Why, I have no idea, but I'm willing to bet that he'll follow the pulsations to their source."

"Alright," Jeremy responded with a flurry of keyboard clacks as he maneuvered the map over to where Odd might be. Sure enough, the feline's symbol appeared in the Snowy Plains along with... "What in the world?" Jeremy muttered in surprise.

"What is it Jeremy?" Aelita asked anxiously. Jeremy shook his head for a moment before answering.

"There's another symbol next to Odd. I've never seen it before. It's not a monster that's for sure."

"Could it be another guardian?" Jeremy heard Ulrich ask rather suspiciously hopeful. Unfortunately for the virtual samurai, that was not the case.

"No," Jeremy replied resolutely, shaking his once more as he frowned once more at the screen. "If anything it looks kind of like William's..." Jeremy's eyes suddenly went wide and he let out an exasperated groan. "Oh please tell me Odd did not do that. Please tell me he didn't."

"Did what?" Aelita and Ulrich asked in synch. Jeremy debated over telling them his theory but decided that perhaps it would be best to get a better grasp of the situation.

"I don't what to say for certain at the moment," Jeremy spoke up finally. "Just find Odd and...whoever's with him and get that tower deactivated. I'm not sure how long William'll be able to hang on."

"Will do, Jeremy," Ulrich replied solemnly as Jeremy watched the symbols denoting his friends rapidly move across the landscape, Ulrich propelled by his super-sprint and Aelita by her wings. And as he watched, Jeremy really hoped Odd had not done what he thought he had done.

* * *

Hiroki peeked out from his side of the ice outcropping before giving a thumbs up to Odd, who lay on the other side. Nodding to signal he got the message, the feline suddenly burst out from the other side of the mound of ice yelling, "Yoohoo! Looking for me fellas?"

That was all it took to get the monsters' attention as half of them peeled away to chase after Odd, while the tarantula leaned on its hind legs and proceeded to unleash a barrage of lasers in the hybrid's direction. Stealing himself, Hiroki rushed out from the other of the snowbank and rushed the remaining monsters as quietly as he could. Unfortunately, his color scheme made it far too easy for the remaining pair of bloks and the kankrelat to spot him.

"Whoa!" Hiroki yelped as a volley of energy bolts headed his way. Reflexively he raised the scythe of his weapon and, to his astonishment, managed to block an incoming laser. "Awesome!" He grinned, following his initial block with several more, albeit clumsy, arcs of his kusari-gama. Deciding to try out the weapon's range, Hiroki held a length of the chain in his left hand, the weighted end dangling by his side, and hurled the scythe end in a haphazard arc, ending with the impaling of one of the bloks on its left eye. Unfortunately, the monster whirled around at the shock of being struck, yanking the weapon from Hiroki's hands before exploding.

Hiroki skidded across the ground with an indignant yelp. Climbing to his feet, Hiroki could just barely hear the sounds of battle coming from where Odd was confronting the remaining monsters.

"Alright then, come on!" Hiroki shouted at the remaining two monsters that had surrounded them. With his weapon out of reach, and one of the blok's eye charging up, Hiroki impulsively punched the blok in its forward eye - and was quick surprised by the results.

The cube-like monster stumbled backwards, whirring slightly, before suddenly becoming motionless, yellow crackles of energy sparking along its exterior. Hiroki stared at his hand in astonishment, It must have been the shobo.

His moment of triumph was suddenly cut short by an eruption of pain in his shoulder as the kankrelat behind him took a pot shot. Whirling around irately, Hiroki let out an equally indignant and pained shout as he slammed his fist into the diminutive monster, causing the small creature to stumble back and paralyze like the blok had.

"Haha, awesome! Hey, Odd, did you see that?" Hiroki called enthusiastically across the battlefield.

"Yeah, that's nice," Odd shouted back, dodging side to side as he avoided the tarantula's aim, having already dispatched the other creatures. "But how about you finish them off before whatever you did to them wears off."

"Oh, right," Hiroki slapped himself in the forehead. How could he have been such a noob? It was obvious that the monsters weren't yet defeated - just stunned. With that in mind, Hiroki raced over to his fallen weapon, took it in hand once more, and slung it in a wild arc that sliced through the kankrelat and ended up impaling the blok. With a final triumphant smirk, Hiroki ran over to help Odd out with the tarantula.

* * *

While Odd devritualized the last blok and simultaneously avoided the tarantula's laser volley, the feline kept as close an eye on Hiroki as he could, and he had to admit. He was impressed. Although Hiroki was rather overconfident and sloppy in some areas, the small shinobi made up for it in spunk and ingenuity. Unfortunately after having defeated his own opponents, Hiroki had let his overconfidence get the best of him, as he was currently racing towards Odd with the obvious intent to help, unaware that he had caught the attention of the tarantula.

"Hiroki, look out!" Odd shouted the warning as the tarantula swiveled its forearms towards Hiroki. The boy broke from his run, temporarily stunned by the situation. Odd raised a paw to fire a volley of laser arrows. The feline never fired, though, as a new combatant joined the fray.

"Energy Field!" Aelita's voice rang loud and clear from high above them. Glancing upwards, Odd caught sight of a pink, translucent sphere of energy shoot from Aelita's open palm and into the tarantula, which shrieked in pain before collapsing and exploding on impact.

Ulrich was not far behind the pink-haired angel and, upon arriving, scowled at the lack of monsters. "I was hoping Xana would have put up more of a fight," he grumbled discontentedly. Odd rolled his eyes at the samurai in exasperation. Only he would want the battles to be harder. Ulrich quickly caught sight of Hiroki and, jerking a sword towards the young boy, growled, "Who's that?"

"Uh, I'm Hiroki," Hiroki introduced himself timidly, clearly intimidated by the samurai's ill temper. "Hiroki Ishiyama. I guess you're Ulrich?"

Odd, having started walking over to the two, frowned, puzzled at the name he had just heard. It sounded familiar, but Odd couldn't quite put a claw on it. Apparently Ulrich felt the same way, as Odd noticed the samurai visibly tense up at the boy's last name. The brunette shrugged it off, however, and decided to determine how Hiroki knew his.

"How do you know my name?" Ulrich asked bluntly as Aelita swooped down and landed gratefully beside them. Hiroki glanced over to Odd.

"Um, he told me?" Hiroki replied, clearly uncertain if he was just answering a question or ratting Odd out. If Odd were to judge by the look on Aelita's face, it was the latter rather than the former.

"Hiroki?" Aelita exclaimed in disbelief. "What on Lyoko are you doing here?"

"Um, I kinda brought him," Odd rubbed his necked sheepishly.

"What?" The three voices of Aelita, Ulrich, and Jeremy exclaimed at once. Before any accusations and reprimands could be flung, however, Aelita placed a hand on her nose and held her other palm out in front of her, clearly struggling to hold in her temper.

"Alright, we'll discuss this later," she declared, her voice ice cold in the way of one holding in irritation. "I need to deactivate the tower before the factory explodes." With that, Aelita made her way hastily towards the activated tower. Once she was out of earshot, Odd began to try in defend himself.

"I didn't think there'd be any harm in it," Odd protested weakly, spreading his paws out in front of him. "I mean, Jeremy can always do that return to the past thing, right?"

"Odd, that only works if a person _hasn't_ been scanned," Jeremy replied wearily. "Even if I did do a return to the past, Hiroki would still remember everything."

"Return to the past?" Hiroki asked abruptly. "What do you mean?"

"Alright, enough questions," Jeremy announced irritably. "Once Aelita deactivates the tower, I'm probably going to have to initiate a return trip anyways, so after that we'll have a nice, _long_ chat, got it?"

"Got it," Odd and Hiroki replied solemnly, the former's tail drooping at the prospect. The hybrid glanced at Ulrich for some sort of support, but the samurai simply shrugged as if silently saying, 'You got yourself into this mess - now deal with it.'

* * *

While all of this was going on, unbeknownst to William, the older boy was grappling with the Xanafied construction worker. Naturally, the fight had not been going in William's favor, as his clothes were now pockmarked with scorches and his face and arms were covered in bruises. And still, the possessed man kept coming.

"Don't these guys ever just _give_ up?" William muttered to himself, dodging yet another chain of electricity. Unfortunately for William, his jump caused him to trip over a rogue piece of rebar which stuck out from the derelict bridge. Pain lanced through William's leg as he slammed down into the ground. Rolling over, William raised his arms in a feeble attempt to block the man's next attack. As it turned out, however, his raised arms allowed him to prevent the man from collapsing on top of him instead.

Rolling the now unconscious construction worker off of him, William glanced over to the factory in relief. Aelita must have deactivated the tower.

"Now to find the detonator," William groaned as he got up and stumbled a few steps.

Moments later the boy was brought to his knees by a tremendous explosion, as part of the factory imploded in on itself. As William watched on in horror, each explosive went off in turn and the factory began to collapse in on itself.

And then suddenly, time seemed to slow. As the world appeared to grind to the illusion of a standstill, a bright light filled William's vision as the world around him was obliterated and he opened his eyes to find himself once more in the bed of his dorm room.

He gasped in shock at the sight he had just seen, before letting out a relieved sigh.

"Way to go, Jeremy, way to go," he mumbled softly.

* * *

It was during one of the breaks between classes when William, having been informed of the situation by Jeremy and Aelita, went and fetched Hiroki.

The younger boy walked alongside the older boy nervously, occasionally shooting anxious glances over at William.

"Hey, don't worry," William gave a small, encouraging smile. "You're not the one getting chewed out. Odd is."

With that, he pointed over to where Odd, Aelita, and Jeremy stood next to a set of benches that rested underneath a tree. The pinkette appeared to be scolding Odd rather vigorously and if the blond had his cat ears, they no doubt would have been flattened in rebuttal. As she noticed Hiroki and William's approach, Aelita cut short her tirade to face Hiroki. Hiroki glanced up nervously to the stern pinkette.

"Look, if you have to blame anyone, blame me," Hiroki quickly got out of the way, feeling sorry for the eccentric blond standing chastised behind his friends. "I'm the one who started prying and getting in your business." Aelita, William, and Jeremy shared a glance before directing their attention back towards Hiroki, who glanced down and shuffled his feet in embarrassment. "I'm sorry if I caused you any trouble. I won't tell anyone about Lyoko, I promise."

Again, the small group shared a glance, except this time Aelita stepped forward and spoke up.

"Actually, we were hoping you could do more than that," Aelita announced, and Hiroki looked up, confused. "Ulrich and I saw how well you fought, and from what Odd's told us you've certainly got spirit."

"What are you saying?" Hiroki asked hesitantly, hoping against hope that the pinkette was saying what he thought she was saying.

"We're saying, that we want you to join us," William confirmed cheerfully. "You may be a bit young, but we think you've got what it takes to become a Lyoko Wanderer."

"Really!?" Hiroki exclaimed, unable to hide his joy and excitement. "I won't let you down, I promise!"

"I'm sure you won't," Aelita grinned, tousling Hiroki's hair in the process. Turning to Odd, she added a bit sternly, "And I trust we learned a lesson today?"

"Yeah," Odd sighed dejectedly. "Don't talk to strangers." Apparently the eccentric blond had not lost his since of humor. Turning to face Hiroki, Odd grinned, "Welcome to the team!"

_The light faded as did the bodiless feeling that had pervaded her mind for an immeasurable amount of time. Now at last, Yumi felt herself being lowered to the floor of the tower. Landing on the platform and curling to a crouch, head bowed, Yumi slowly adapted to her new body. Stilling her mind, Yumi opened her eyes and looked up towards the wall of the tower. With determination filling every step Yumi stood up straight and walked out of the tower and into the mountains she called home. A voice echoed in her mind as she surveyed the misted peaks. It was time to begin._

**Post Story Author's Note: So, I hope you all enjoyed, and I certainly hoped that this did not feel rushed. Concerning Odd's Earth name, I wanted to have it be Della Robbia but couldn't think of a good enough reason for it to be. But don't worry, he'll get it eventually. Now on to Hiroki - I'll be referring to him as a 'shinobi', while Yumi will be called a 'ninja'. From what I can tell, the two words mean roughly the same thing, just that ninja has more Chinese influence (which is actually ironic considering how sensitive the Yumi of the prime universe is about her cultural heritage). Anyways, Hiroki's abilities are wall-walking (enabled by his ashiko), nerve strike (enabled by his shobo), and, of course, super-smoke. I look forward to the reviews and if you have any questions, especially about Hiroki, please ask. Thanks in advance for the reviews, and until next time, readers, when the Ice Sector will be _finally_ unlocked.**

**author's note about shinobi compared to ninja**


	18. Chapter 18

**Author's Note: And I'm back. Sorry it took so long to update, but this was the first chapter since Chapter Four that I completely trashed in my rough drafts folder and started over on (and at 6500 words no less), so needless to say, I had intended this to come out a lot sooner. Anyways, thank you for all the reviews. They were a motivational boost (especially when I had to start the chapter over), and I am glad that you felt I had characterized Odd and Hiroki correctly. Now as for your questions, neither the ninja nor Laura from Evolution will show up. Not in this story anyways - maybe if I do a sequel, but that's looking pretty unlikely. Tyron might make a cameo later on, but that's it. And as for the Skidbladnir, I already answered that question, and the answer was: yes, they will have it. In concern to their group name, though, I would like to point out that technically there are _two_ groups: the Lyoko Wanderers (consisting of Jeremy, Aelita, William, and Hiroki) and the Lyoko Guardians (consisting of Aelita, Odd, Ulrich, and, technically, Yumi). Only Aelita is a part of both groups, however, when they do combine, they will be renamed into the Lyoko Warriors. Also as a side note, in case nobody got the reference, the name 'Lyoko Wanderers' was directly inspired by the Code Lyoko game being developed by Immudelki (the maker of the IFSCL), namely _Lyoko Wanderer_. So if you want, after you're done reading, go check the announcement trailer out on Youtube and get hyped! With that all out of the way, I hope you enjoy.  
**

**Now on with the story...**

_Yumi stood on the edge of a small cliff overlooking a crystal-clear pool of water and the immense tower which loomed over the oasis. From the appearance of this desert haven, and if his stories were any indication, the ninja could only assume that this was the place Ulrich called his home and where the other guardian first emerged into the burning light of the sun - for even now Yumi was shading her eyes with her right hand, so used were they to the cool light of the mountain mists. A pang of remorse shot through the ninja. It was a shame that a misunderstanding had forced the samurai - as she now knew he was - from his home. Yumi shook her head ever so gently to clear her thoughts. She had a task to complete, and after she did so it would be safer for the boy to return. The Desert Sector, like her mountains, was in a paralyzed state. And the source of this paralysis lay within the activated tower in the region the samurai called the Tornado Peaks. An apt name considering the sandstorms that constantly swept throughout the region. Those were of little concern to the ninja, however, and, lowering her hand, she knelt down and narrowed her eyes to survey a route down the side of the cliff. Once she had done so, Yumi leaped onto the ledge below nearest to her and continued to leap and somersault from hand- and foothold until she finally landed on the dusty sandstone ground, her legs spread out beneath her to absorb the impact, her left hand pressed flat against the sand-covered stone. Straightening up, Yumi made her way past the oasis and its tower and onwards towards yet another cliff. Upon reaching this precipice, however, Yumi realized that she would not be able to scale it. The ninja's gaze swept the wind-swept wasteland, eyes wincing again at the sun's harsh glare. Unlike in the mountains, there was no cooling mists or cloud cover to diffuse the jarring light, and in all honesty it made Yumi feel a little bit exposed. Her eyes suddenly locked onto a land bridge connecting the plateau she stood on with the plateau that held the activated tower. Determination working its way across her countenance, Yumi tightened her hands into fists ever so lightly and began to make what was sure to be a long trek. And at the end of that trek lay the activated tower._

Hiroki sat along side his best friend, Johnny, on one of the many benches that dotted Kadic Academy's courtyard. The topic of their conversation was a particular red-haired girl who stood opposite from them across the courtyard in deep conversation with her own close friend.

"Ah, come on, Hiroki," Johnny urged his friend, despite knowing what the likely answer would be. "You should just ask her out already - or just talk to her."

"Ugh, I told you already. I can't _just_ go up and say hi," Hiroki grimaced at the very thought as butterflies flew rampant around his stomach. "I gotta do something really big."

"Like get a scoop?" Johnny rolled his eyes partly. A thought suddenly occurred to him, as he was reminded of this particular idea of Hiroki's. "How'd that go by the way? I thought you were gonna, like, I don't know, interview Odd or something. I mean, you guys seem to be buddies now, so how hard could it be?"

"It's not like that," Hiroki turned his head away guiltily. Johnny was his best friend, and he didn't like keeping secrets from him. Especially not really big and cool and awesome secrets like Lyoko. "It's just - I promised to keep a secret. A really big, important one."

"Well, what is it? I mean, it's not anything bad is it?" Johnny asked, a bit of concern creeping into his voice. Hiroki felt unsure of how to respond, and the sentiment showed on his face as he worked out what to say. It wasn't bad, per se, because Hiroki and his friends were fighting to save the world and what-not. But at the same time it wasn't good, what with Xana and all. Not to mention the fact that Hiroki was fairly sure that Jeremy had hacked into more than a few classified - and definitely illegal to access - databases and the like. And although Hiroki had to admire that - he was a pretty good lock-pick if he said so himself, the dark-haired boy was fairly sure that such things did _not_ count as 'good'. After a few moments of indecision, Hiroki settled on an answer.

"No, it's not anything bad, but it is really important," Hiroki shook his head seriously, letting his arms droop down onto his knees while he did so. "And their counting on me. Believe me, I wish I could tell you all about it," Hiroki added earnestly. Johnny shrugged amiably.

"No problem, what are best friends for?" Johnny grinned cheerfully, adding in a somewhat conspiratorial tone. "Though, if you ever need to tell anyone, you know where to find me."

Hiroki simply smiled in reply. That was one of the things he like about Johnny. The other boy just didn't know how to hold a grudge or, really, be angry at anyone. Johnny glanced down at his watch.

"Whoops! I'm gonna be late. I promised my group I'd go to the library to help out on our project," Johnny exclaimed as he glanced back up at Hiroki. "See ya later!" Johnny waved goodbye as he spun around towards the study hall.

"See ya!" Hiroki waved back before calling out. "And Johnny, thanks."

"No problem," Johnny gave Hiroki a thumbs up before breaking out in a sprint to reach the library and his work group in time. Hiroki leaned back onto the bench and put his hands behind his head as he waited. Earlier that day during lunch, Hiroki had been told that Jeremy and Aelita were considering giving him his first mission on Lyoko. Ever since he had discovered the group's little secret and first set foot in the virtual world, Hiroki had yet to return, instead being tasked with various tasks in the real world, whether it was running interference for his friends or helping William fend off a swarm of nano-bugs. Jeremy had said that it was to evaluate him - whatever the boy genius meant by that, but Hiroki had been almost convinced that they weren't letting him go back to Lyoko because of his age. And as a matter of fact, the dark-haired boy had begun to become more than a little downcast at that thought.

"Hey, Hiroki, why the elongated countenance?" A familiar voice chimed in from across the courtyard, shaking Hiroki from his thoughts. He didn't even need to hear William correcting Aelita with a chuckle to understand what she had asked, for Hiroki's face had indeed begun to take on a pensive, almost dour, expression as he had sat on the bench mulling things over. Standing up so that he could at least gain some ground on his older friends, Hiroki could have almost sworn he heard Aelita mutter, "Well, my way sounded better anyways," in response to William's correction of the pinkette's use of the saying.

"Hi, Aelita!" Hiroki exclaimed as he walked over to his friends. "I was just thinking about the mission for today. I am going to go on it, right?" Hiroki asked the last part with a hint of desperation, prompting Aelita to smile encouragingly to him.

"No doubt about it," the pinkette grinned as she ruffled Hiroki's hair playfully, the younger boy grinning as well at the thought of actually returning to Lyoko.

"In fact, that's why we came here," William added with a wry smirk. "Odd and Jeremy are already on there way to the factory."

"What? You mean they didn't wait for me?" Hiroki pouted playfully, eliciting an amused huff from William and a soft giggle from Aelita.

"Well, if you two are gonna catch up to them, you'd better hurry," Aelita smirked smugly. Hiroki raised an eyebrow at this.

"You mean you're not coming along with us?" Hiroki asked puzzled. Aelita's lips quirked in a mischievous smile.

"Nope, I'm going to check in on Jeremy and Odd first before fetching Ulrich," Aelita informed them with a wave. "See ya guys later."

And with that, Aelita's form began to crackle and fluctuate before dissipating altogether. Hiroki let out a small squeak of surprise, much to his chagrin. William inclined his head towards the younger boy.

"You know, for some reason I always forget that she's a specter," William shook his head in bemusement. "I don't think I'll ever get used to that."

"Yeah, tell me about it," Hiroki replied, his eyes still fixed on where Aelita had been. William clapped him lightly on the back.

"Well, let's get going then, shall we? The Blizzard Plateaus aren't gonna come to us," William announced brightly. Hiroki cracked an excited grin, barely able to control his enthusiasm, as he followed William to the manhole cover that would lead to the factory and Lyoko.

* * *

"And I'm telling you for the eighth time, no, Odd!" Jeremy ranted irritably as he and Odd stepped out of the elevator and into the computer lab. "I am not going to upgrade you with laser vision. For one, that's just ridiculous. Two, do you have any idea how long that would take to program? I mean, Aelita didn't even finish installing weapons on the _vehicles_! And three, who knows what would happen if I did decide to upgrade you."

Jeremy sat down in the console chair of the computer lab roughly, grumpily beginning the start-up process for making the connection to Lyoko. His patience was rapidly thinning, as the eccentric blond standing behind him, arms crossed petulantly, had been none stop rattling away ideas ranging from ludicrous to just plain idiotic in Jeremy's opinion.

"Hey, first off, it's not ridiculous. I mean, could you imagine how many monsters I could destroy just by _looking_ at them?" Odd pressed his hands to his eyes, opening them wide with his fingers to emphasize his point. "Besides, if this is about my future flash - you said you didn't know what caused it."

"And that's exactly my point," Jeremy retorted gruffly, completely incredulous at the eccentric blond's insane persistence. "Until we find out what caused you to become more attuned to the supercomputer's inner workings, it'll be too dangerous to attempt any upgrades at all."

"Pfft, Einstein, you're the only person who thinks getting a special power is a bad thing!" Odd huffed, crossing his arms once more indignantly. "Besides, just think how well _laser vision_ would go along with my ability to see the future. Xana could virtualize a monster and then - BLAM! - they're devirtualized!"

"Yeah, if you actually had any control over your visions," Jeremy snorted irritably, hands flying over the keyboard and eyes fixed on the screen as he prepared the virtualization protocols. "And that's another problem. The last time you had a 'future flash', Aelita almost got devirtualized."

"Ah, but you forgot that my future flash helped me prevent William _and_ Ulrich from falling into the Digital Sea," Odd held up a finger matter-a-factually. "If it wasn't for me, those megatanks would have sent them tumbling over for sure."

"That doesn't change the fact that your visions are a potential liability," Jeremy shot back, although he had to concede that Odd was right. If it had not been for his vision, Odd would not have been able to warn Ulrich of the megatanks in time for the samurai to stop the armored monsters from blasting away a portion of the plateau into the Digital Sea. Still, Jeremy felt that he had to gain some ground on the annoying guardian. "There's too much of a risk that they'll simply distract you instead of help you."

"Whatever!" Odd exclaimed, throwing his arms up in the air in exasperation. "You're just jealous that you don't have any cool powers."

"No, I just give you your cool powers," Jeremy deadpanned before adding with a touch of indignation. "And your laser arrows, the vehicles, not to mention materialization into the real world."

"Fine, I'll give you that," Odd conceded petulantly, on the verge of a pout, muttering in a low voice. "Still think laser vision would be cool though."

As the eccentric blond was not the most quiet of whisperers, Jeremy heard him all to well and was about to turn around and tell him to lighten up on 'reading' comic books, when he nearly jumped out his skin at a new, albeit familiar, voice.

"What're you guys talking about?" Aelita asked curiously, having materialized behind the two boys. Both blonds gave a shout of surprise, prompting a flurry of giggles from Aelita. "I didn't scare you two, did I?" She asked smugly, eying her two friends mischievously.

"What? Scare us? Pfft, you should know me better than that, princess. Now Einstein, he was scared out his senses," Odd blustered with over-the-top bravado and a hint of mirth near the end. Jeremy, feeling a bit like he needed to match at least some of Odd's confidence, attempted, much to Aelita's secret amusement, to outwardly shake off the shock of the pinkette's sudden arrival.

"Odd, for your information I have all of my senses intact," Jeremy huffed indignantly, straightening his glasses as he did so. "I was just, um, surprised to see you so soon, Aelita. I thought you were going with William to get Hiroki."

"I did," Aelita replied saucily. "Then I decided I should check on you two and make sure you hadn't killed each other," the pinkette smirked slyly. "Looks like I arrived just in the nick of time."

"What? No," Odd pshawed. "We were just...having a nice, friendly talk about, uh, comic books - yeah. That's it."

"Why, Jeremy, I didn't know you were interested in comic books," Aelita raised an eyebrow to Jeremy, who nodded emphatically. It was now time for the two boys to collectively attempt to save some face in front of Aelita.

"Um, yeah, a bit," Jeremy began weakly, searching for more words to elaborate. "Odd was just telling me about all the ones that, um, that Hiroki was showing him. Nothing much, though, we were just talking."

Aelita smirk patronizingly at the two boys, before letting out another puff of laughter. "Whatever you say, Jeremy," the pinkette rolled her eyes blithefully. "I better get going to meet up with Ulrich. No doubt he's already waiting for us. So I'll leave you two to discuss your...comic books," Aelita grinned cheekily before dematerializing her spectral form. Once she was gone, Odd and Jeremy shared a look.

"So...no laser vision?" Odd asked a bit mournfully, although a glimmer of hope still gleamed in his eyes.

"No laser vision," Jeremy confirmed simply before turning back towards his computer screen and directing his attention back to finishing his preparations, while Odd shrugged in muted acceptance.

"Oh well, I guess I'll just have to fight Xana's monsters with only my awesomeness to save the day."

* * *

Ulrich's eyes swept the frozen wastelands before the samurai that were in turn swept by the blizzards that raged throughout them. His gaze narrowed in focus and intensity as he studied the turbulent expanse of ice and snow, memorizing as much of the landscape as he could, so that should it become necessary, the samurai would be able to move around and ahead of the storms by memory. Occasionally his eyes would dart down to his roughly chiseled, but now well-refined, map of the Blizzard Plateaus, checking for any deviance. Finding none, his gaze would redirect itself an instant later to once more survey the patterns of the ice storms and the landmarks of the inhospitable plateaus. So engrossed was he in this, that he did not hear the soft beating of wings behind him nor the sound of light, approaching footsteps. And so, when a gentle voice spoke up clearly behind him, Ulrich spun around on reflex, drew his sabers in the blink of an eye, and barely managed to stop himself from devirtualizing Aelita.

"Whoa! Ulrich, it's me, Aelita!" The angel cried out a bit panicky, taking a step back and raising her arms in defense. "Please don't devirtualize me!"

"Aelita!" Ulrich exclaimed startled, taken aback by what he had almost done. "You really shouldn't sneak up on people like that!"

"But I didn't, Ulrich," Aelita protested somewhat confused. Despite her habit of sneaking up on her other friends, the angel knew it was best to give the samurai a fair warning. "I called out to you before I landed."

"Yeah, and then I had my swords at your neck," Ulrich huffed gruffly, withdrawing said katanas and sheathing them.

"What?" Aelita asked, even more confused now. "I asked, 'What are you doing?', and _then_ you had your swords at my neck!" Aelita's face contorted into something similar to curiosity and amusement. "Are you telling me you were _so_ focused on whatever-it-is-your-doing that you didn't even _hear_ me until I was right behind you?" Aelita let out a huff of exasperation. "And I thought Jeremy was bad!"

"Um, well, I...," Ulrich groped about for the right words to reply to the disgruntled angel, however he wasn't quite sure what to make of all of her piqued rant.

"Oh, never mind," Aelita rolled her eyes gently and reassured the samurai with a gentle smile. "No harm was done. Anyways, back to my question. What are you working on?"

"Oh, right," Ulrich responded blankly at first before shaking himself mentally. "I was just checking to make sure my... map of the Blizzard Plateaus is accurate."

"Oh, right. Odd told me about that," Aelita peeked over the samurai's shoulder as he turned back around to scrutinize his map once more. "It looks really detailed," Aelita commented once she had gotten a good look at the roughly hewn chart, a trace of admiration in her voice. "Though, I'm not sure if we'll need to use it," Aelita added apologetically, elaborating as Ulrich twisted his head around to look at her quizzically. "Jeremy'll be able to track where the storms are and relay the information to us."

"That may be," Ulrich grunted as he pushed his hands against his knees and stood up, meeting his gaze with Aelita's. "But I'll know where the blizzards will be going next - not to mention that I've memorized a good portion of the landmarks." Recalling a story Odd had told him once, Ulrich added with a shrug. "Besides, Odd said that last time you guys went into the Blizzard Plateaus, Jeremy cut out."

"Well, yes, that's true," Aelita conceded fairly. "But Jeremy said that he's worked out the problem and fixed it."

"Still, better to be safe than sorry," Ulrich replied bluntly.

"Guess I can't argue with that," Aelita's lips quirked in amusement, her shoulders rolling in a concessionary shrug. The samurai nodded in agreement and a moment of silence followed during which Ulrich took a deep breath. Ever since Odd had first materialized onto Earth, both he and Aelita had been gone most of the time - in fact, Odd now only returned to Lyoko to fight Xana, apparently having too much fun on Earth to want to return to Lyoko for the time being. And as for Aelita, even when she returned to Lyoko, the angel was often in her tower working on one program or another. On the occasion that she did leave the tower to wander about the Forest Sector, there was only a small chance that the two guardians would meet. This, however, did not bother Ulrich in the slightest. He was used to solitude, and his occasional meetings with Odd or Aelita was more than enough to dissipate any feelings of loneliness he might have.

No, what was bothering the samurai was something else entirely. Ulrich had yet to tell Aelita about Yumi, the other guardian he had met in Carthage, and for some time now it had been weighing heavily on the warrior's mind.

"Aelita, there's something I need to tell you," Ulrich began hesitantly, slowly. Aelita glanced back up at him, for during the lapse in conversation the angel guardian had turned to study the samurai's map once more.

"What is it, Ulrich?" Aelita asked, both concern and curiosity reverberating through her voice, as the virtual girl had instantly picked up on the samurai's state of mind.

"When we went to Carthage and were separated," Ulrich turned away from the angel guardian briefly, pursing his lips slightly, trying to determine how to go about telling her. "Something happened. I-"

Ulrich was suddenly interrupted by the sound of Jeremy's voice.

"Aelita, Ulrich, can you guys hear me?" The computer genius called down to them. Both of the virtual guardians glanced upwards in surprise, both taken aback for their own reasons at the sudden interruption.

"Yes, we can hear you," Aelita replied promptly. "Ulrich and I were just talking." At this the angel guardian focused on Ulrich once more. "What was it you were saying Ulrich? Something happened in Carthage?"

"Um, nothing," Ulrich replied falteringly, uneasily glancing up towards the sky, and by reference Jeremy. "I'll tell you later."

Aelita gave him a questioning look but decided, much to the samurai's relief, not to press the issue further. Instead, she inclined her head to address Jeremy once more.

"Okay, Jeremy, did you have anything to tell us?" The pinkette called out.

"Not really," Jeremy replied nonchalantly. "Just the customary testing of the comm system." He paused for a moment before adding. "Although Hiroki and William just arrived. I've sent them down to the scanner room along with Odd. I'm going to virtualize them as close to your position as I can."

"Alright, Jeremy, we'll be waiting," Aelita assured her dear friend. The angel then turned to face Ulrich. "Well, Ulrich, hope you're ready for some more company."

* * *

Three forms virtualized into existence over the frozen plains of the Ice Sector. With three thuds, the dopplesoldner, feline, and shinobi landed on the hard-packed snow. The human-cat hybrid, of course, landed on all fours gracefully, while the other two did a fraction less so, one weighed down by the sheer size of his sword and the other from lack of experience. The figure clad in the dark, navy blue robes took in the landscape in excitement.

"Oh yeah, it's great to be back!" Hiroki shouted out enthusiastically, dancing slightly on his feet while he did so. Odd and William shared an amused look.

"Yeah, it sure is," Odd smiled nostalgically as he searched the surrounding landscape. "Hey, Einstein, where's Aelita and Ulrich? I thought you said they would be waiting for us?"

"I did, and they are," Jeremy replied promptly. "They're due east of your position."

Odd looked around him, confused. He opened his mouth to ask what he felt to be the obvious question, but William beat him to the punch.

"East is that way, Odd," the dopplesoldner pointed towards the glowing horizon.

"Oh, yeah," Odd rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.

"You mean you really don't know which way is east?" Hiroki asked cheekily, the corners of his mouth tugging upwards in a barely suppressed smile. Odd glared at the young shinobi with his amber eyes.

"I do too," Odd huffed indignantly, raising his arm and managing to point in the exact opposite direction of east. "It's that way."

"That's west, Odd," William smirked as he hefted Zweihänder onto his shoulder and sauntered past the hybrid. "You're really not that good with directions, are you?"

Now Hiroki openly grinned, turning to follow the older boy. Odd's face twisted into a petulant moue as he thrust his paws down at his sides in fists.

"Not when they have stupid names!" Odd contended biliously, stomping off after his friends. "I mean, how'd anyone even come up with those names anyways? Why didn't they call them something like 'away from the light' or 'to the left of the light'? No, you guys have to say west and east, instead."

"That's because, Odd, on Earth our source of light, the sun, moves throughout the day," Jeremy answered the feline's rant patronizingly, and with some degree of satisfaction. "The cardinal directions are determined by the Earth's magnetic field." Jeremy then could not resist adding, "and by the 'to the left of the light' would north."

"Whatever, the Earth's magnetic field is stupid, anyways," Odd muttered out loud, not willing to admit that he had no idea what a 'magnetic field' was. He thought he might have heard it once in science class, but, to be honest, he never really paid attention in that class. Or any other class really. Except, of course, the fine arts classes and phys ed. Although he did try to pay attention in computer science class, if only to get Aelita off his tail about how bad his skills with computers were.

"Hey, Jeremy, are we going to walked the whole way?" Odd called up pointedly.

"Well, you can if you want," Jeremy replied easily, clacking away at his keyboard while he did so. "Although I was planning on bringing up the overbike and overboard for you and William."

"What about me?" Hiroki asked, disappointment all too obvious in his voice. Jeremy just chuckled, however. Odd and William exchanged a confused glance.

"Oh, you won't need one," Jeremy informed the puzzled shinobi. "Aelita and I went through your avatar's abilities. There's one in particular that you should like. It's called 'super-smoke'. From what we can tell, it allows you to travel at great speeds and remain impervious to damage. Of course, you can't attack while you're in this state," Jeremy added, revealing the catch. It didn't seem to bother Hiroki however, who was already looking pumped up at the sound of his special power.

"Sounds awesome!" the shinobi exclaimed exuberantly. "How do I use it?"

"Well for one, simply state 'super-smoke'. Although I imagine having a destination or direction in mind would help," Jeremy added almost as an afterthought, as Hiroki braced himself and focused his attention to the east.

"Super-smoke!" Hiroki intoned with equal parts elation and seriousness.

Suddenly, the shinobi felt as if his body were dissolving away - and not like the numbing effect of devirtualization. No, this felt more like he was disintegrating while being able to feel every part of it. So naturally, Hiroki lost focus of where he wanted to go, instead directing his attention towards William and Odd on instinct, only to suddenly surge towards them in a burst of speed.

"Whoa! Watch it!" Hiroki heard Odd shout, paws covering his head, as the shinobi's smoke-like form just barely missed colliding with the feline. Fortunately, Hiroki turned away in time and with that realized that wherever he looked, he went. Calming down, Hiroki guided his incorporeal body back towards his friends before willing himself - as it is rather difficult to speak a command when one has no mouth - to coalesce back into his shinobi form. Seconds later, Hiroki was standing in front of the equally surprised and awed faces of William and Odd with an enormous grin on his face.

"Wow! That was - wow! Did you guys see that!?" Hiroki rambled excitedly at his two friends, who exchanged wry looks.

"It be kinda hard not to," William smirked affably. "What say we put your 'super-smoke' to good use and meet up with Ulrich and Aelita?"

"Alright!" Hiroki chirped cheerfully, glancing over towards Odd, who had by now removed his paws from his head, and grinned. The feline returned his enthusiastic smile and gave the young shinobi two thumbs up, as two vehicles materialized next to the hybrid and dopplesoldner.

"Here you go - the overbike and overboard," Jeremy reported in satisfaction. "Now get going. Aelita and Ulrich aren't that far away, and I want to get that tower deactivated as soon as possible."

"Aye, aye, captain Einstein," Odd saluted playfully, turning his cheeky grin on Hiroki. "Hey, Hiroki! Bet I can get there first!"

"Oh you're on!" Hiroki smirked as William and Odd mounted their vehicles, the latter doing so with an eloquent back-flip. Dark smoke coalesced around Hiroki's fists as he began to activate his new found ability. "Super-smoke!"

With that, the three boys took off in a vaguely easterly direction at top speed, each feeling the thrill of competition as they raced to join their friends on the edge of the frozen plateau.

* * *

Jeremy manipulated the sector scan display so that he could easily see William, Hiroki, and Odd's progress towards Aelita and Ulrich. Simultaneously, the industrious boy was also monitoring Hiroki's stats, keeping a watchful eye out for any harmful side effects of his ability. So far, there were none. Thoughts on Hiroki's special power, Jeremy figured it would be wise to contact Aelita and Ulrich and inform them of the development. After all, from what he'd heard and observed, Hiroki's virtual form was altered by the ability, rendering it into a cloud of black smoke.

"Ulrich, Aelita," Jeremy spoke into his headset, directing the comm system's signal to the two guardians. "William and Odd are headed towards you on their vehicles. Hiroki's using his special power."

"Special power?" Ulrich asked curiously. "You mean his...'super-smoke', is it?"

"Um, why, yes, actually," Jeremy stuttered slightly, somewhat surprised that the samurai already knew about Hiroki's special ability, although Jeremy got the distinct feeling that Ulrich's final question had not been directed towards him. "How'd you know?"

"Aelita told me about it," Ulrich replied simply, confirming Jeremy's suspicions as to how the samurai had obtained the information. Jeremy could almost see Ulrich shrugging from the tone in the samurai's voice.

"Well, anyways, they should be coming into visible range now," Jeremy shook his head slightly, redirecting his attention to the bigger picture.

"Yes, we see them, Jeremy," Aelita affirmed, adding in an amused tone. "And it looks like they're having a little race - and Hiroki's winning. Odd just can't catch a break in these races, can he?"

"Not at all," Ulrich responded smugly. Both the samurai and Odd had raced against each other numerous times - more often than not resulting in a victory for Ulrich - much to the chagrin of Odd. Jeremy followed the three symbols signifying his friends as they moved across the screen. Finally they came to a halt in front of Aelita and Ulrich.

"Ha, looks like I won!" Jeremy heard Hiroki proclaim, jubilant and smug. From his readings and the fact that it was Hiroki who spoke, Jeremy could safely deduced that the shinobi had reverted to his default form.

"Hmph, well, I was just going easy on you," Odd replied in an attempt to preserve some of his dignity. No doubt after having been beaten by Ulrich so many times, the feline had looked forward to winning a race with someone other than Aelita or William, who were not the fastest avatars on Lyoko even if they excelled in combat. And speaking of Ulrich.

"Just keep telling yourself that, Odd," the samurai huffed in amusement, while Aelita giggled in the background.

"Besides, that's not accounting for skill, am I right, Odd?" William joined in, throwing the words Odd had many times proclaimed back at the feline.

"Unbelievable. With friends like you guys, who needs Xana?" Odd exclaimed in mock exasperation, no doubt tossing his paws up in the air in an exaggerated fashion.

"Well, if you want my opinion, no one needs Xana," Jeremy quipped in from the computer lab, deciding to interrupt the friendly banter so that they could get on with the mission. "So once you guys are ready to go, we can get about deactivating that tower."

"Well then, I guess we'd better get going," Aelita announced gently, a hint of laughter still in her voice. "The sooner we get the tower deactivated, the sooner we can start unlocking the desert."

"And about time, too," Jeremy heard Ulrich mutter softly under his breath. No doubt Jeremy was the only who had heard the samurai save perhaps Aelita, who had remarkable hearing even on Lyoko.

"I guess we'd better," William agreed, and Jeremy could picture him gesturing towards the overwing, which Jeremy had materialized prior, as he continued. "I guess you're taking the overwing, then, Ulrich?"

"No. I'll be fast enough on foot," Ulrich responded simply.

"_I'll_ be riding the overwing," Aelita added onto that.

"You mean you won't be flying?" Odd asked, bemused. Jeremy could imagine Aelita shaking her head at this, her lone earring bobbing back and forth.

"No. While my wings are very helpful, they're not quite as fast as one of the vehicles," Aelita then added. "Besides, with the overwing I'll be able to stay closer to you all rather than soaring above your heads."

"And it'll be for the best if you stick together," Jeremy pointed out in a reminding warning.

"That's all well and good," Ulrich cut in gruffly, a trace of impatience present in his voice. "But how about we get a move on."

"Why, what's the rush?" Hiroki's voice came curiously. Jeremy could imagine Ulrich casting a sideways glance towards the young shinobi.

"I'd like to return home," the samurai answered simply, his voice carrying a nearly undetectable tone of longing.

"Then let's not delay any further," Jeremy ordered, sharing the samurai's urgency for the deactivation of the tower, if not for the same reasons. "Once the next storm passes, you'll be clear for entry. After that, I'll guide you to the activated tower."

"Understood, Jeremy," Aelita acknowledged as she boarded the overwing, and the others gathered around her. Once the storm had passed, the group took off and entered the Blizzard Plateaus, Ulrich activating his super-sprint, while Hiroki utilized his super-smoke. As his friends reached the next proverbial crossroads, Jeremy directed them in the right direction. This continued on for another good thirty minutes, Jeremy issuing commands for the group to head right or left for a certain distance or wait at a point for a certain amount of time to allow the storms to pass. Apart from his occasional disagreements with Ulrich, who had apparently taken the time to study and memorize the paths of the blizzards - something Jeremy might admire if it wasn't so annoyingly applied, the trek went smoothly. At last, the group reached the location where communications had begun to drop out the last time. Checking the compensation programs he had running, Jeremy cheerfully reported on this fact.

"Alright, guys, we've reached the point where communications dropped out last time," Jeremy announced confidently. "And all systems are functioning properly."

"That's great news," Aelita sighed, clearly relieved by her friend's report.

"Man, was this how it was back when you were trapped here, Odd?" Hiroki asked the feline, referring to the hybrid's time spent alone in the Ice Sector. Jeremy had noticed that every time the group stopped for any length of time, Hiroki would almost immediately begin talking. Jeremy had a feeling it had something to do with the younger boy's inability to do so while he was in his super-smoke form.

"Eh, kinda I guess," Odd replied uncertainly, and Jeremy could imagine him rubbing the back of his neck while looking around. "I mean, I only had to shelter from blizzards when a tower activated in the Forest Sector - not that I knew about that at the time. And of course I was the only one here."

A few flashing symbols on Jeremy's screen prompted him to interrupt the conversation, as he had needed to do multiple times prior. "Alright, listen up," Jeremy announced authoritatively, garnering the attention of his friends. "A blizzard's heading your way. Once the snow storms to your left subside, go that way."

"Wouldn't it be better to go ahead of the storm and loop around the mountain, instead?" Ulrich asked, although the question sounded more like a statement than anything else.

"No, if you did that, you'd run into the storms that are heading that way," Jeremy retorted irritably, knowing all too well where this was going.

"Not if we skirt the mountainside," Ulrich replied, sounding equally irritated. "Maybe you can't see it on that screen of yours, but those storms only pass close by."

"Which is all the more reason you _shouldn't_ go that way," Jeremy countered biliously. "It's better not to take unnecessary risks."

"Well going your way _is_ an unnecessary risk," Ulrich's voice was taught with annoyance and the beginnings of anger. "If we go that way, we'll be dodging storms right and left nonstop."

"Alright, enough!" A firm and clearly irked voice cut through their argument. Both boys immediately fell silent at the authoritative tone in Aelita's voice. "You two are being ridiculous! You should be working together instead of against each other! You should be deciding our course, not arguing over it like a couple of children!"

Jeremy was rather taken aback by the condescending tone in the virtual angel's voice, and he was at a lack of words to reply, as was apparently Ulrich - although whether this was really the case or merely due to Ulrich's silent nature, Jeremy wasn't sure. After a few more terse moments of silence, Aelita spoke up again, her voice clear and firm, very much as if she were addressing two petulant children.

"Now, we don't have much time to choose our course," Aelita voiced expediently, addressing both boys before addressing Ulrich directly. "I think we should follow Jeremy's directions for now - he's led us this far and he _is_ the one actually seeing the whole picture." However, Aelita was not about to let Jeremy go un-reprimanded, it seemed, as she turned her attention on Jeremy next. "But that doesn't mean you shouldn't listen to other people's advice. Ulrich has studied the patterns of the storms for a while now." Jeremy could practically feel the pinkette's scolding gaze on him as she spoke. "Now you two work together - or I swear I will find some way to knock your thick skulls against each other. Got it?"

"Yes, Aelita," Jeremy replied a tad sullenly, Ulrich murmuring his assent as well. The blond could easily see the angel nodding her head absolutely.

"Alright then, let's get moving," Aelita announced. "Lead the way, Jeremy."

"Okay," Jeremy nodded tersely. "The storms will be dissipating to your right in about ten seconds. You won't have long to get through."

"Alright, you heard him, get ready," Aelita ordered, a trace of her previous frustration still evident in her voice. Eyes fixed on the interface in front of him, Jeremy watched as his friends entered the next swath of calms. The next few minutes were consumed by Jeremy making decision after decision and call after call as, just like Ulrich had said - much to Jeremy's chagrin, the storms were constantly coming and going. Finally they reached a relatively calm area where his friends could take a breather and reorient themselves.

"Are we almost there?" Hiroki asked, soon as he had reformed. "I mean not that this isn't great and all...but I'm getting a little tired."

"Don't worry, we're not all that far away," Ulrich replied to the young shinobi, and Jeremy thought that he could detect a tone of weariness in the samurai's voice as well. It was then that he realized that both Hiroki and Ulrich had been using their own abilities to traverse the Blizzard Plateaus, and unlike the others, who were utilizing vehicles, the two oriental-inspired boys were bound to tire eventually. Jeremy scolded himself mentally. How could he have forgotten that?

"Good, because I've had just about enough of these blizzards!" Odd exclaimed, drawing Jeremy out of his brief musings.

"Just be thankful you haven't had the experience of being devirtualized in one," William commented bleakly before turning his attention up towards Jeremy. "So where to next, Einstein?"

Jeremy was already working on that when the older boy asked, and so had an answer ready.

"You'll need to head east about fifty meters," Jeremy paused before forcing himself to begrudgingly add. "Does that sound good to you, Ulrich."

"Well, I don't know what a meter is," Ulrich began a little slowly, seemingly caught off guard by Jeremy asking his opinion. "But the direction sounds right." After a brief hesitation, the samurai conceded, "and I guess you're in a better position to judge the distance."

"Alright, then, east for fifty meters it is," Aelita announced, sounding quite pleased at the boys' albeit reluctant teamwork. Jeremy watched the symbols denoting his friends move eastward as Aelita continued. "While we travel, maybe-"

Aelita's voice suddenly cut off. Jeremy's gaze swept the scanner interface to see if something had happened to her. The virtual angel was fine, however, and there were no monsters in sight. Quickly running one of his communication debugging protocols, Jeremy soon found the problem: communications had been completely cut off. Instead of petering off like last time, though, they had ceased all at once. Mentally slapping himself, Jeremy realized why. His program hadn't fixed the problem - it had merely strengthened the signals between him and his friends until communications died out completely. Now, however, in part thanks to his new program, Jeremy could see why: there was a jamming bubble around the activated tower - not unlike a simulation bubble, but instead of holding a virtual environment, this one was meant to inhibit communication.

Frantically, Jeremy began to search for a way around it, ever keeping a watchful eye on his friends and the snow storms that surrounded them. As he scrambled for a solution, Jeremy found that he sincerely hoped Ulrich had memorized the layout of the Blizzard Plateaus as much as he and Aelita claimed.

* * *

"While we travel, maybe we could plan out our next course," Aelita suggested hopefully, eager to get her two friends to work together again. When Jeremy did not respond, however, the corners of Aelita's mouth quirked in annoyance. "Jeremy?" After a few more seconds without response, Aelita's mood quickly changed to worry. "Jeremy?" She asked again. William steered the overbike closer to Aelita.

"What's up, princess?" William called, clearly sensing the virtual angel's concern. Aelita let a worried glance slip towards William.

"I can't contact, Jeremy," Aelita responded worryingly. "Can any of you?"

They all tried, save Hiroki who was still in his incorporeal form, and were all unable to. This led Aelita to conclude the worst - well, not really the worst - the worst would be Jeremy injured or something even more dire. But this was the second worst, for sure.

"I think communications have blacked-out," Aelita announced gravely.

"Thought it was fixed," Ulrich replied tersely, however it seemed to come from weariness rather than his usual near-hostility towards Jeremy. Aelita was beginning to wonder if Ulrich was pushing himself too hard in keeping up with the vehicles. The virtual angel was interrupted from voicing her concerns by William.

"We thought it was," William replied solemnly. "And maybe it was, and this is a different problem."

"What do we do now, then?" Odd asked, a note of worry reverberating through his voice. To Aelita's surprise, it was Ulrich who spoke up.

"We keep going. Like Jeremy said," the samurai replied shortly. Aelita glanced over at him surprised.

"What? You're really going along with what Jeremy said?" Odd voiced the pinkette's thoughts for her.

"I can admit a mistake," Ulrich huffed indignantly, although Aelita's keen hearing allowed her to hear his following mutter of, "Just not easy too." The pinkette let out a small smile at this.

"But where do we go after that?" William put in, clearly confident in the samurai's knowledge of the Blizzard Plateaus.

"South-east," Ulrich responded promptly, all the while keeping pace with the vehicles. "We can't stop for a rest. Need to get to the caves."

"The caves?" Aelita asked even as out of the corner of her eyes she saw Hiroki head towards her before coalescing into his shinobi form and collapsing wearily onto the overwing, almost destabilizing the vehicle.

"Sorry 'bout that," the shinobi muttered tiredly, seeming about to pass out. "Got to take a break."

Aelita glanced down sympathetically at the young boy. Even though he hadn't been traveling at his top speed, he was still unused to his new ability, and the exertion of constantly using it for a prolonged period of time was sure to cause some strain. Unlike Ulrich, Hiroki did not yet have the endurance to sustain constant use of his power. Aelita could see the others also cast similar glances at the tired shinobi, even Ulrich, who looked ready to pass out himself - as he, unlike Hiroki, had to push himself to his maximum speed to keep up with the vehicles.

"Spotted them while surveying," Ulrich answered Aelita's question once Hiroki had managed to securely wedge himself into the front of the overwing. He seemed to hesitate for a moment before adding, "Can't be too sure they're caves, but they're the best we've got."

"Alright then, I guess that's where we're headed," Odd shrugged nonchalantly, shading his eyes with his right paw to survey the horizon. Meanwhile, however, Aelita turned her focus on Ulrich.

"Ulrich, are you alright?" Aelita asked concerned. "You've been using your super-sprint nonstop for a while now."

"I'm fine," Ulrich panted tersely, adding when he saw Aelita's dubious expression. "I'll make it to the caves. Don't worry."

"We're almost to the calm," William announced, drawing everyone's attention. "And we head south-east, right?"

"Right," Ulrich nodded succinctly. As they turned and traveled towards a conglomeration of rock and ice in the distance, Aelita felt Hiroki stir beside her and shakily hold onto the overwing while trying to stay out of Aelita's way.

"Sorry about not being able to keep up," Hiroki muttered apologetically. Aelita's face creased in sympathy as she glanced down at the shinobi.

"Don't worry about it," she assured him gently. "We shouldn't have been pushing you so hard. Jeremy and I didn't think about what the long term effects of using your ability would be."

"Yeah, well," Hiroki mumbled, glancing over to Ulrich. "Ulrich seems to manage it well."

"Yeah, well Ulrich has had a_ lot_ of time to practice," Aelita snorted in amusement. "You've just started. You have to pace yourself."

"I guess you're right," Hiroki conceded with a wan smile.

"And I know I'm right," Aelita tousled the shinobi's hair affectionately.

A cry of surprise in front of them directed their attention to Odd, who had suddenly began to careen this way and that on the overboard before plowing ungracefully into the snow below, gripping his head as he did so.

"Odd!" Aelita and Hiroki chorused in concern as they set down next to the downed feline, William and Ulrich quickly joining them. As she dismounted the overwing, Aelita noticed that while normally Ulrich would be annoyed by such a stunt from Odd, this time he looked almost relieved as he placed his hands on his knees and hung his head in exhaustion. Aelita let a brief frown of worry cross her face for her brother. He was definitely pushing himself too hard.

Aelita turned towards Odd, rushing forward to help him up. Moaning, Odd got to his feet, gazing around, eyes glazed as if confused.

Suddenly his eyes became crystal clear with alarm and realization.

"Look out!" The hybrid shouted, startling all within hearing range. Odd then proceeded to tackle Ulrich to the ground just as two bolts of energy passed through the air above them. The two deadly pulses would have quickly devirtualized Ulrich in an instant had Odd not pushed him out of the way. It was then that Aelita realized the feline must have had one of his future flashes.

"Over there!" William pointed out before unstrapping Zweihänder from his back and brandishing it at the offending pair of tarantulas. Aelita and Hiroki were quick to join him. Odd pushed himself off of Ulrich with a muttered apology before racing over to stand beside them. Ulrich drew one of his katanas and began to rise to join the others, but a decisive shake of the head from Aelita stopped him.

"Don't, Ulrich. You need to save your strength to reach the ice caves. We'll handle this," Aelita ordered firmly. The samurai looked about ready to argue but suddenly his shoulders drooped wearily and he nodded his head in assent, a clear sign of how tired he actually was, before letting his blade plunge into the icy ground, using it to support himself as he knelt on the ground exhausted. Assured that Ulrich wasn't about to plunge vainly into the battle, Aelita turned to evaluate the situation. The two tarantulas had lowered to their feet and were currently charging towards the group - no doubt to obtain a better spot from which to assault them with a barrage of energy blasts.

"Alright. Odd, you and I will lay down cover fire," Aelita ordered the feline, who nodded in confirmation even though Aelita knew he hated not being on the front lines - an ironic attitude considering his weapons. Turning towards William and a nearly-recovered Hiroki, Aelita continued. "You two will rush in and take care of the tarantulas. Don't take any unnecessary risks. Hiroki, you get the one on the left. William, the one on the right."

"Yes, ma'am," William and Hiroki chorused, promptly readying their weapons as they charged forward towards the tarantulas. Meanwhile Odd let out volley after volley of laser arrows, while Aelita took to the sky and let rain a hail of energy fields. Between Odd's laser arrows and Aelita's energy fields, the tarantulas were unable to get a fix bearing on the oncoming dopplesoldner, who managed to partially deflect an energy bolt with the arm guard added in his upgrade, and shinobi, whom Aelita noticed was not using his super-smoke. Unbalanced, it was not long before the rightmost tarantula was cleaved in half by Zweihänder, while its companion met a similar fate at the blade of Hiroki's kasari-gama. With the monsters devirtualized, they regrouped around a partially-recovered Ulrich.

"Are you good to go?" Aelita asked, concern all to obvious in her voice.

"Yes, I'm good," Ulrich replied, climbing to his feet and sheathing his saber. "We need to get moving," he announced urgently. "It won't be much longer before the next blizzard passes through here."

Without another word the samurai sped off towards the nearby snow-covered outcropping of rock. William, Odd, and Aelita hopped onto their respective vehicles with Hiroki shyly holding onto Aelita's waist as she powered up the overwing and sped after her friend. As they crossed the frozen expanse of ice and snow, Aelita could see the oncoming blizzard coming nearer and nearer and hoped that they could reach the cave in time.

* * *

Jeremy's glasses were pushed up onto his forehead as he pressed his face into the palm of his hands. There was no way to reestablish communications until the tower was deactivated. Lowering his hands and gazing back at the interface, Jeremy saw that two tarantulas had approached the group. For a few tense moments, Jeremy watched as they engaged the two monsters, Ulrich oddly staying behind and abstaining from the fight. Jeremy frowned for a moment and wondered if something had happened to the samurai. Fortunately the fight was soon over and they mounted their vehicles and began heading in a roughly south-easterly direction.

"Where could you guys be going?" Jeremy wondered to himself curiously as he scanned the map. His eyes eventually landed on what appeared to be a rather extensive series of ice caves. Tracing them, Jeremy noticed that they would eventually come out near the activated tower.

"Way to go, Ulrich," Jeremy praised, surprising himself in the process. He shook his head to clear his surprise. After all, who else but Ulrich would have known where the ice caves would be from such a distance? Certainly not Odd, who, in Jeremy's opinion, would never be able to stay so still as to be that observant.

Noting that they had managed to enter the ice caves - and not a moment too soon as a snow storm quickly engulfed the surrounding area, devirtualizing their abandoned vehicles in the process, Jeremy turned his attention towards preparing the final stages of his tower unlocking program. He wanted to have it ready to go as soon as Aelita reached the tower and deactivated it. Intent on his work, Jeremy only occasionally glanced over to the scanner map to check his friends' progress - having faith in their ability to survive and knowing that worrying over them would be futile if he could do nothing to help. And with that in mind, Jeremy redoubled his efforts and soon had the program fully operational. Now all he had to do was wait for Aelita and the others to reach the tower and unlock the Ice Sector once and for all.

* * *

"Ow!" Ulrich cried out in pain as he slammed his head into a nearby stalactite of ice. Rubbing his head, Ulrich glared at the offending structure, which barely stood out in the dim light of the cave. Why this cave was so dim was beyond the samurai. Even the caves in the Desert Sector had been lighter than this. Then again, perhaps the overhead blizzard was blocking some of the light from making it through the translucent ice. Either way, he knew one thing. "I don't like small, dark places," Ulrich growled in frustration.

"You mean like the inside of Odd's head?" Aelita joked, attempting to lighten the mood as the angel walked past Ulrich, carefully avoiding every stalagmite, stalactite, and column. Her comment earned her a small grin from Ulrich as well as a spattering of laughter from William and Hiroki. Odd, of course, just huffed in indignation.

"Ow, that's a low blow, Aelita," Odd's faced creased into an exaggerated wince. Unfortunately for the feline, this left him wide open for William.

"Well, it'd have to be," the dopplesoldner warbled merrily. "Or else it go right over your head!"

This elicited a giggle from Aelita and further laughter from Hiroki. Odd turned a wry eye on the shinobi.

"Hey, last time I checked, you weren't so tall yourself," Odd huffed in amusement, instantly cutting off the shinobi's laughter and twisting the younger boy's lips into a disgruntled moue. Aelita rolled her eyes gently, but was glad all the same that the mood had lightened. And the mood lightened even further when Ulrich spoke up once more.

"Hey, I think it's getting lighter," the samurai noted, the hint of a wistful tone entering his voice. Narrowing her eyes, Aelita realized that this was indeed the case.

"We must be nearing the exit," she announced aloud, hearing a few relieved sighs echoing through the frozen air behind her.

Cautiously the friends made their way through the remainder of the ice tunnel and stood at the narrow entrance, waiting for the blizzard outside to subside so that they might be able to see where they were emerging. After a few more minutes, the ice storm finally passed and Ulrich, with Aelita and Hiroki close behind, squeezed out of the strait opening.

"We're not far from the tower," Ulrich announced as he emerged into the near-blinding light of the icy tundra, his eyes long accustomed to such brightness in the desert. The samurai pointed towards a nearby pillar of ice roughly shaped in the likeness of a hexagonal prism. "I recognize that ice formation. The tower is due east of here. If we hurry, we'll be able to make it before the next storm."

"Then we'd better get going," Aelita announced, determination lining her face.

"Um, guys? What's that?" Hiroki asked, a bit worried, pointing towards a large, metallic sphere heading towards them. Ulrich's jaw clenched as he caught sight of the rapidly approaching Iron Sphere.

"A megatank," Aelita hastily informed the shinobi, pivoting around rapidly to call down to Odd and William. "You two need to get up here now! We have a megatank on the way!"

"Aye, aye, princess!" Odd called back, leaping up the incline with cat-like grace, while William made his way up the ragged, yet still slippery, surface more slowly.

"Aelita, look out!" Ulrich suddenly cried from her left. Aelita turned just in time to see the crimson wave of energy surge towards her. The angel let out a shrill cry of panic before diving to the side, barely managing to avoid the megatank's pulse ray. Unfortunately, the same attack then impacted against the mouth of the cave, causing a small avalanche of ice and rock to barricade the entrance to the narrow ice tunnel. Aelita could just barely make out Odd's yowl of surprise and annoyance as the feline and William were trapped inside the cave.

Ulrich glanced over at Aelita to make sure the angel was alright before directing his attention back towards the megatank. The monster was charging itself again and in rapid succession fired a burst of energy from its central eye. The samurai swiftly drew his twin katanas, crossing them in front of himself in a desperate attempt tp absorb the blast. For a few moments the blades indeed held back the crimson energy field, even as the samurai was pushed backwards from the force of the initial impact.

Then suddenly, his katanas shattered into a myriad of pixels, much to Ulrich's horror, and the samurai was blasted backwards into the frozen snow drift behind him, slamming into the ice formation and hitting the ground with a solid thud and a pained moan as he attempted to get back on his feet.

This left only Aelita and Hiroki to deal with the megatank, as even if Ulrich recovered in time, the samurai would be unable to devirtualize the monster without his swords. Seeing the megatank charge its central eye once again, Aelita hastily rushed towards Hiroki, standing in front of him while simultaneously forming an energy sphere in each hand. Linking the two orbs of pink energy, Aelita caught the crimson energy wave emitted from the megatank with a grunt.

"Hiroki," Aelita gasped out, as the angel pushed against the persistent barrier of red energy. "Get to the megatank while it's still open and take it out!"

The shinobi nodded, snapping out of the brief stupor he had been knocked into at the rapid attacks of the megatank. With a look of determination on his young face, Hiroki focused on the megatank and intoned, "Super-smoke!"

With that, the shinobi's body dissolved into a cloud of black smoke which made short work of the distance between the two engaged combatants. Having a spurt of inspiration, Hiroki guided his smoke form up into the air just before he reached the megatank, coalescing into his shinobi form and drawing his kasari-gama just as the crimson energy ray shattered like glass. Using the momentum he gained from his ability, Hiroki slammed the scythe-like blade of his weapon into the eye of the megatank before the monster had the time to encapsulate itself in its metallic shell.

Hiroki leaped off the massive creature as it rolled backwards and exploded into hundreds of metallic shards before flickering out of existence. Hiroki let out an exuberant whoop and turned to give Aelita a big grin, as the angel made her way over to the young shinobi.

"Great job, Hiroki," Aelita congratulated proudly, her own lips turned upwards in a soft smile.

"Where'd the megatank go?" A groggy voice sounded from behind them, and they turned to see Ulrich trudging towards them, his right hand pressed against his forehead woozily, and he shook his head as if clearing his vision.

"Hiroki took care of it," Aelita beamed proudly, and Hiroki felt a surprising wave of embarrassment and humility.

"Well, Aelita helped," Hiroki admitted meekly. Ulrich still looked a bit impressed, however.

"Nice job, kid," Ulrich nodded approvingly, finally shaking of the effects of being thrown into a solid ice wall by a megatank's laser. The samurai's expression quickly turned serious. "Aelita, we need to get to the tower as fast as possible - the megatank's already wasted our time as it is."

"But what about Odd and William?" Hiroki asked fretfully. As the shinobi glanced over towards the now caved-in entrance to the ice cave, the ice and rocks blocking it suddenly exploded outwards at the force of an energy wave from Zweihänder. Ulrich cast a glance over his shoulder nonchalantly before turning his gaze back to Hiroki.

"What about them?" the samurai echoed casually as the feline and dopplesoldner made their way out of the cavern and towards their friends.

"Well, looks like we missed out on the fun," William raised an eyebrow, noting the lack of a megatank. Odd appeared a bit more annoyed at the lack of any foes.

"And all because that stupid megatank had to trap us in that boring cave," Odd lamented indignantly. William rolled his eyes at his companion.

"Well, if that's everyone. Let's get going," Aelita proclaimed hastily, quickly pivoting around to race in the direction of the tower, activating her wings in the process to move across the land quicker. Ulrich, Odd, and Hiroki quickly closed in behind her, while William straggled a bit behind, weighed down by Zweihänder, as, even though the massive sword had been decreased in size ever so slightly during William's upgrade to make it more manageable, the two-handed weapon was still heavy.

"Too bad we had to leave our vehicles behind when we entered the caves," William panted as the tower came into sight. Secretly Ulrich agreed with the dopplesoldner, as he would not have minded riding on any of the vehicles - even the overboard, having had more than enough running for the time being.

"Well, they're probably devirtualized by now," Odd replied intermittently as the feline hurtled over the ice on all fours. "Those storms don't leave much else intact."

"Then its a good thing we're here," Hiroki announced enthusiastically, if a bit wearied. Odd, Ulrich, Hiroki, and William came to a stop at the base of the massive tower, gazing up in awe at the imposing structure, as red mist swirled around it.

Aelita did not pause to take in the view, however, and instead smoothly transitioned from flight to a light jog as she landed on the ice and entered the tower.

"Let's hope she and Jeremy can unlock that tower fast," Ulrich commented grimly, nodding towards the horizon, indicating the oncoming blizzard. "Because we're sitting ducks out here."

* * *

Jeremy watched tensely as the snow storm neared the tower - as did his friends. His hands were posed above the keyboard, ready to activate his portion of the unlocking program as soon as Aelita initiated the process from her end. If they weren't unable to deactivate the tower in time, Jeremy doubted if either of their virtual friends would survive - least of all, Ulrich, who had taken seventy life points in damage from the glancing blow of the megatank.

"Come on, just a little bit further," Jeremy's voice trailed off as his eyes tracked Aelita's progress. As soon as the virtual angel had entered the tower, Jeremy hands were flying across the keyboard. "And now!" He shouted to himself as he initiated the unlocking process. Within a matter of seconds, the tower had been fully deactivated and unlocked.

Jeremy collapsed back into his seat with a pent up sigh as he saw the last storms of the Ice Sector dissipate along with the jamming bubble that had previously engulfed a portion of the Blizzard Plateaus. Figuring he should contact his friends to make sure they were alright, Jeremy adjusted his headset and cleared his throat.

"Aelita, Hiroki, Odd, Ulrich, William, can you hear me?" Jeremy asked each of his friends in turn. The young genius felt an overwhelming wave of relief as Aelita and the others answered him back.

"Loud and clear, Jeremy," Aelita reported, adding gently. "It's good to hear your voice again."

"And yours," Jeremy replied sincerely. Unfortunately, such sincerity was always a ready target for a certain mischievous feline.

"Aww, how sweet," Odd crooned, continuing in a teasing, sing-song voice. "Aelita and Jeremy seating in a tree. Kay-eye-"

"ODD!" Aelita and Jeremy chorused in embarrassment, the latter blushing lightly at the hybrid's josh, even as Odd burst out into laughter along with William and Hiroki. Waiting for the laughter to die down and gathering the words together, Jeremy interrupted them gruffly.

"Alright, enough of that, the mission's a success. It's time to come back."

"Aw, and I was just starting to have fun," Odd cheekily complained mockingly. Jeremy rolled his eyes at the hybrid, even though the feline could not see it.

"Well, guess I'm going to have to be the party-pooper, then," Jeremy drawled dryly. "William, Hiroki, if you two are ready, I'll materialize you back."

"Ready when you are, Jeremy," William answered back up to the blond. "See ya later, Ulrich," the older boy turned to bid goodbye to the samurai, who would be the only one remaining on Lyoko - not that he seemed to mind.

"Yeah, it's been great!" Hiroki added in his own farewell exuberantly.

Jeremy waited a few moments before devirtualizing his friends. He had not been expecting a verbal reply from the samurai, as no doubt Ulrich had simply nodded in farewell as he was prone to doing. Once his friends were back on Earth, Jeremy directed his attention to Odd.

"Alright, your turn, Odd," Jeremy informed the eccentric feline. "Step into the tower and Aelita will enter the code: Earth."

"Will do, Einstein," Odd chimed in cheerfully as he headed towards the tower. "Ciao, Ulrich!"

"Later," Ulrich replied simply but cordially. Once the hybrid had entered the tower, Jeremy considered the samurai for a few moments.

"Hey, Ulrich," Jeremy hesitantly began at last. The blond could almost feel the samurai's attention on him.

"Yes, Jeremy?" Ulrich responded succinctly.

"I wanted to, um, thank you for getting Aelita to the tower safe and sound," Jeremy put the words out hastily, for he had little doubt that Ulrich had played a large role in his friends' survival. "I should have listened to you a bit more. We might have avoided the jamming field for a little while longer if I had."

"You're welcome," Ulrich replied slowly as if surprised by Jeremy's gratitude. A few moments past before the samurai added hesitantly. "I'm sorry if I was being too...hard-headed," Ulrich dragged out, using the term Aelita had called the two boys prior. "If we had gone my way and got caught by monsters then we would have been pinned down against the cliff side."

Jeremy thought over the samurai's apology before venturing slowly, "So, we're good, then?"

"We're good," Ulrich echoed firmly.

* * *

"Well, I'm glad _that's_ over," Aelita chimed in, walking out of the previously activated tower, having already materialized Odd and caught the last part of Jeremy and Ulrich's . "Though, seriously, how do you people manage to get over things so quickly? Is it just a guy thing, or is it just me?"

"Don't ask me," Ulrich shrugged, while Jeremy gave an equally uncommitted answer. Aelita smiled to herself wryly. It was amazing what a stern talking to and near catastrophe could bring about.

"Well, then, I guess I'll just have to find another girl to ask about that," Aelita shrugged nonchalantly. The virtual angel was quickly puzzled by the guilty look that flashed ever so briefly across Ulrich's normally composed countenance.

"It'll have to wait 'till morning, then," Jeremy commented from above. "We need to get back to Kadic, and Hiroki's got to head home."

"Okay," Aelita nodded in agreement, before remembering the conversation she had been about to have with Ulrich prior to the mission. With that in mind, Aelita added, "go on without me. I'll meet up with you later. I have some things to take care of here. Besides, it'll take me a while to get back to the Forest Sector."

"Are you sure?" Jeremy asked uncertainly. "What if you run into some of Xana's creatures?"

"Oh, don't worry about that," Aelita assured her fretful friend. "I can handle myself, and besides, I've got Ulrich here."

Jeremy pondered that for a moment before giving his assent.

"Alright, I guess I'm going with Odd and William, then," Jeremy announced. "See you later, Aelita."

"See you later," Aelita replied. The virtual angel felt the connection between the interface and Lyoko deactivate. Turning to face Ulrich, Aelita noticed him giving her a rather bleak look.

"Not sure what you'd expect me to do if we ran into any monsters," the samurai glanced down at his hands ruefully, closing them into frustrated fists. "Without my sabers, I'm useless."

"I wouldn't say that," Aelita comforted the warrior, walking over to place a hand reassuringly on his shoulder. "Besides, they can be reprogrammed."

"Really?" Ulrich met Aelita's eyes hopefully. The pinkette nodded in confirmation.

"Really," Aelita echoed, adding. "In fact, before I leave, I'll do that real quick. But first," she redirected the conversation smoothly. "Before the mission, you were going to tell me something. Something about Carthage. What was it?"

Ulrich looked away, going over to sit down on a nearby snow-covered rock. Aelita, frowning in concern, walked over and sat down next to him. Leaning over to see his face, Aelita pressed softly, "What is it, Ulrich?"

Ulrich closed his eyes for a moment, as if mustering his will, before opening them again and staring straight ahead.

"When I got separated from you and Odd...well, I-I wasn't alone," Ulrich began hesitantly. Aelita's eyes opened wide with shock and a feeling of dread suddenly swept over her. She fought it down, however, and pressed on.

"What do you mean?" Aelita asked tremulously. "Was Xana there?"

"What?" Ulrich looked up at Aelita for the first time, seeming a bit surprised. The samurai shook his head wearily. "No, it wasn't Xana. It was," Ulrich paused here again, before continuing with renewed determination. "It was another guardian like us. Her name was Yumi."

"Another guardian?" Aelita gasped in astonishment. "Jeremy and I didn't think Carthage had a guardian."

"It doesn't," Ulrich said solemnly and, no doubt noticing the expression on Aelita's face, added quickly to prevent the pinkette from jumping to conclusions. "She wasn't the guardian of Carthage. She was the guardian of the fourth sector. The Mountain Sector."

Ulrich wasn't sure if that was what it was really called, but the name fit the description Yumi had given him of her home. Aelita was silent for a few moments as she took all of what Ulrich had said in. When the angel finally did speak again, her voice was tinged with a mixture of anger, surprise, and disappointment.

"Why didn't you tell us?" Aelita asked, a hard tint to her words. "Why didn't you tell me? Why?"

"I don't know," Ulrich replied miserably, resting his arms on his knees once more, genuinely trying to think of a reason. "I just...I don't know."

Aelita remained silent for a few seconds before her lips went taught with determination, and Ulrich was surprised to feel the comforting touch of Aelita's hand on his shoulder.

"Well, the important thing is that you're telling me now," Aelita assured the samurai soothingly.

"That's not all though," Ulrich looked Aelita directly in the eye as he said this.

"Then tell me," Aelita urged gently. And with that, the samurai began to tell Aelita about how Yumi had come to be in Carthage, of how no matter what Ulrich had told Yumi, she had been told already by Xana, and of how the two had parted ways. After he had finished, the they sat silent for a long time. Finally, Aelita broached the topic once more.

"So, you have no way of knowing if Yumi is alive or not?" Aelita asked hesitantly, and Ulrich shook his head sadly.

"No, although I'm sure she can take care of herself," Ulrich added confidently, continuing less so. "I'm more worried about what her decision was."

"Then that's all the more reason to get the Desert Sector unlocked," Aelita rose to her feet and slapped Ulrich on the back spurringly. "Come on, let's go."

"What? Go where?" Ulrich asked, rising to his feet and looking puzzled.

"To the Desert Sector, of course," Aelita replied as if the answer was obvious, turning towards Ulrich to give him a sympathetic look. "We won't be able to unlock it all, but you and I can start with the way tower in the..uh...what did you call it?"

"Valley Plateau," Ulrich answered promptly, as the samurai followed Aelita to the tower. "But I thought you needed Jeremy to unlock the tower completely."

"I need someone to run the program on the other side," Aelita corrected as she entered the tower alongside Ulrich, both of them gasping slightly as they phased through the barrier. "Which I can do once I return to Earth, since Jeremy's already prepared the program. Once I've unlocked the tower from this side, I'll head back to the Forest Sector and activate my specter."

"Will you be alright getting there on your own?" Ulrich asked the angel as they stood on the edge of the platform and gazed down into the darkness below. Aelita gave him a raised eyebrow in response.

"I can handle myself just fine," Aelita replied haughtily, a hint of playfulness in her voice. "Besides, as long as I stay far away from the edge of the sector, I'll be in no danger."

Aelita then spread out her arms and let herself fall into the chasm below. Ulrich watched as she disappeared before steeling himself, taking a step back, and racing forward to leap off the platform and towards the Desert Sector.

_Yumi walked through the sandstorm that surrounded the activated tower_._ The massive maelstrom of wind and sand that engulfed the ninja had no effect on her, and she strode confidently to her goal. The ninja had spent the better part of ten cycles making her way through the storm-stricken wasteland of the Tornado Peaks. And while the sandstorms of course did not harm her, they did obstruct her line of sight. Should that become too limiting, however, Yumi would then rely on her newly acquired second sight to survey the land before her and adjust her heading. Now as she stepped out of the whirlwind that surrounded the tower, Yumi paused for a moment to survey the structure. Like the others she had seen this tower dominated the landscape. The only difference between it and every tower she had seen so far, save one, was that it was surrounded by a menacing red mist. Not wishing to tarry any longer Yumi entered the tower, the wall of the structure rippling around her as the ninja pushed her way through it. Once inside, the symbol on the platform beneath her, identical to the one emblazoned on her chest, lit up sequentially as she made her way to the center. Once Yumi had reached the center she focused her mind. A luminescent aura of light condensed around her and she began to levitate towards the second platform. This time however she was not using her mind to levitate herself, instead relying on the tower to do it for her. Nearing the second platform, the ninja spun slowly backwards in the air before aligning with the platform and stepping lightly onto it. As Yumi approached the center a small panel appeared. Pressing her hand on the crystalline sheet, Yumi watched as letters appeared, requesting a code for input. Directing her attention to the program, Yumi entered the code: Lyoko. All around her the panels that perpetually lined the insides of the towers suddenly dropped towards the abyss below, darkening the structure. As the tower deactivated, Yumi felt almost as if she were about to fall unconscious. Wrestling with her mind, the ninja managed to shake herself from her stupor. Giving one last glance around the darkened tower, Yumi stepped off the platform and descended to the platform below._

**Post Story Author's Note: And that's it for now. I hope you've enjoyed. To clarify on some of their outfits, William's is essentially the same with some armor added onto his shoulders and forearms. In addition, **  
**Zweihänder now more closely resembles its Evolution counterpart. As for Yumi, her outfit is virtually identical to her Season 4 outfit save the fact that on her chest where the straps converge (I guess their straps - I dunno) there is a mark of Xana. In addition, her outfit is black instead of dark red, and her shoulder pads are colored white and bright red for the right and left shoulders, respectively. So please review, and until next time, readers, when Team Lyoko will head to the Northern Wastes and encounter an unexpected foe.  
**


	19. Chapter 19

**Author's Note: And here's another chapter! It's a bit shorter than my more recent ones, but I didn't feel it needed to be all that long. Anyways, I'm glad that y'all enjoyed the last chapter. Thanks for all the reviews by the way! And lyokowarrior, as for which group is the A or B Team, it doesn't really apply so much to the Lyoko Wanderers and Guardians, as one's more of a group of friends while the other is a group of similarly purposed beings. That being said, I suppose you could consider the Lyoko Guardians the "A Team" as they're always on Lyoko ready for action (at least prior to Odd's materialization) and are the most skilled in fighting monsters. So without further ado, I hope you enjoy this latest installment.  
**

**Now on with the story...**

_The ninja walked along the edge of the rift between the Eastern and Northern Wastes searching for a point where she could cross. A frown crossed her face as Yumi once more encountered the remnants of a land bridge. Like the other one this bridge had been destroyed and only extended a quarter of the way to the other plateau. Ulrich had not been exaggerating when he had spoken of the level of damage inflicted by his conflict with Xana. Thinking about the samurai made the ninja feel uneasy. How was she supposed to fight him? The two humans would be easy enough - it was not as if they would actually die if devirtualized. But how could she bring herself to face another guardian? Even though she was not meant to defeat them, any battle could easily turn deadly. And that thought, of course, summoned to mind the guardian known as Aelita. The virtual angel was unique from all of her siblings in the fact that she could harness the virtual world in a manner similar to Xana. This alone made her a threat but surprisingly did not concern the multi-agent program for that reason. No, what the artificial intelligence desired from Aelita was what linked her to their home. The Keys of Lyoko. Yumi was unsure of what they were exactly but she knew retrieving the keys would release Xana from Lyoko ensuring the multi-agent intelligence could never be destroyed be simply deactivating the supercomputer. And this meant that Lyoko's destruction would be averted. But before the keys could be recovered, Yumi would have to complete her task - as would the Lyoko Wanderers. Finally the ninja reached an intact land-bridge. Crossing it and entering the Northern Wastes, Yumi was taken aback by the sheer amount of destruction that she had been unable to perceive from afar. Piles of rocks were all that was left of once proud stone pillars and precariously balanced rock formations. In addition, numerous rock slides had blocked most of the canyon entrances and irreparably scarred the outer edges of the mesa. She forced herself to focus, though, and made her way through the devastation towards the one open pass that still remained. Reaching it the ninja then made her way through the winding corridor of multi-colored sandstone and into the valley that held the tower of the Northern Wastes. Approaching the tower, Yumi brushed her hand across a protruding, waist-high stone that had etched into it what appeared to be a crude war map. Having reached her destination and reminded of her own cartouches, Yumi studied the carefully hewn chart and waited._

Aelita followed Jeremy through the lunch line where the pinkette received a generous helping of spaghetti, meatballs, and garlic bread. Although Aelita had been going through the meal line regularly now, thanks in no small part to Odd's voracious appetite, the pinkette still received relatively large helpings, as Rosa was always quick to point out how skinny the young girl was. Aelita also suspected that the keen-eyed cafeteria lady had noticed her slip Odd her meals more than once, and so had taken to passing the eccentric blond food more discreetly.

"I see Odd's going to get another full meal today," Jeremy noted lightly once they were out of Rosa's hearing range. A corner of Aelita's lip quirked upwards wryly.

"Only because he'll go back for seconds right after he scarfs down all mine," Aelita shook her head in disbelief. "Honestly, where does he put it all?"

"Some mysteries will never be unraveled," Jeremy quipped sagely and not without a hint of humor. Aelita huffed lightly in amusement as they neared their regular table around which sat William and Odd, Hiroki being seated at a different table with his best friend, Johnny, and a couple other boys his age. Occasionally, Aelita would catch the smaller boy throwing glances over his shoulder towards their group as if awaiting some signal. For the most part, though, the boy appeared content to remain with his other friends during lunch, something that Aelita occasionally felt envious of, as apart from their little group, the virtual girl had not really had the chance to meet many other people.

"Looks like Hiroki's got his own little gang goin' on over there," Odd commented between mouthfuls of spaghetti, following Aelita's gaze. "You think he's trying to round up some competition for us, or what?" The blond joked merrily before stuffing his mouth full of bread and meatballs. Aelita rolled her eyes in disgust at Odd's eating habits, and so it was William who responded.

"Well, if he is, he'd better find someone as smart as Jeremy, else they won't know what hit 'em," the older boy commented casually, leaning back in his chair, having already finished his meal.

"Well, regardless of any group-forming conspiracies or not," Jeremy interrupted the amiable chatter. "I've completed my tower unlocking program for the Northern Wastes, as Ulrich calls them."

"Sheesh, Northern Wastes," Odd mock shuddered. "What cheerful names Ulrich makes up." The eccentric paused in thought for a moment before asking hesitantly. "So...since they're northern, does that mean they're to the left of the light."

William was about to reply that yes they were, but Aelita interrupted him before he could do so. "Not in the desert, Odd," the pinkette informed. "Apparently while he was on his own, Ulrich decided the sun was in the west, not the east. So the Northern Wastes are actually to the _right_ of the light."

"Aw, come on!" Odd wailed in frustration. "I just got the directions for the Forest and Ice Sectors worked out! Why does Ulrich have to change things up?" At this Odd rested his head onto his arms, barely avoiding a collision with his meal. "He's killin' me here!"

"Don't tell Ulrich that," William huffed humorously. "Or else he might just decide to change it around again just for you."

A ripple of laughter spread through the group at Odd's disconsolate groan at just the thought of Ulrich intentionally switching the directions around. After the moment had subsided, it was Jeremy who naturally brought them back into focus.

"Anyways, cardinal directions aside, we can now unlock the Northern Wastes," Jeremy announced triumphantly, adding as a suggestion. "If you guys want to, we could do that now. We'll have more than enough time to spare if our last mission was any indication."

"Fine with me," William shrugged nonchalantly, while Odd echoed the sentiment more enthusiastically through his last few mouthfuls of spaghetti. Aelita cleared her throat lightly and Jeremy turned to look at her curiously.

"What is it, Aelita?" Jeremy asked, wondering what the pinkette was going to say.

"Don't forget Hiroki," Aelita reminded gently, and the group turned around to briefly look at the younger boy, who was currently talking to his friend Johnny. Jeremy nodded in concession.

"Right. You signal Hiroki, and we'll head to the factory," Jeremy decided promptly. With that the group stood up and moved to take their trays to the washing counter. Noting the sudden movement, Hiroki glanced over questioningly at them, and, taking his cue from Aelita's gentle smile and slight nod, excused himself from his group before heading after his friends, who had by now reached the door to the cafeteria. But as they left the building, they were suddenly accosted by a pair of two young reporters, namely Milly and Tamiya.

"Hi, Aelita, we were wondering if we could have an interview with you," Milly asked in the rapid fire manner typical of a reporter that made the question sound more like a statement. Tamiya was behind her ginger friend with a camcorder at the ready. Aelita and Jeremy shared a puzzled glance.

"Why do want to interview me?" Aelita asked, genuinely confused. Jeremy had recently been interviewed by the two budding reporters because he was the star student at Kadic. But Aelita was unsure of why the two girls would want to interview her.

"Well, next to Jeremy, you _are_ one of the top students," Tamiya spoke up from behind Milly, who, not to be out done, added.

"And you were chosen by the Subdigitals in that contest they had," Milly reminded Aelita, continuing in a vaguely accusational tone. "And you never did come to that interview we scheduled then."

"Besides," Tamiya added. "Hiroki said you wouldn't mind."

Unfortunately for Hiroki, said boy had exited the cafeteria just in time to hear this and get the gist of what was going on. His face lit up red with embarrassment as Aelita raised an eyebrow questioningly in his direction. She shrugged it off, however. At least the young boy had finally _talked_ to Milly, and the young reporter wasn't wrong when she said Aelita had skipped out on the last interview. Still, now was not the best time, so Aelita motioned to her friends for them to get to the factory before directing her attention back to Milly and Tamiya, who were waiting impatiently and patiently, respectively.

"Look, I'd loved to," Aelita began, trying to sound apologetic. "But I have to go right now. Maybe later, okay? Perhaps after school?"

Milly and Tamiya shared a glance, the latter shrugging.

"Fine, after school, five 'o' clock sharp," Milly chipped succinctly, and Aelita nodded emphatically.

"Alright. Good. I'll be there. Gotta go," Aelita clipped before pivoting on her heels and running around the side of the cafeteria where no one could see her. Once there, she deactivated her spectral form before Milly and Tamiya could change their minds and come looking for her.

Once her mind had returned to Lyoko, Aelita got up from the lotus position she had been sitting in, and made her way down the tower. Once there, she stood on the edge of the chasm and let herself fall into it as she began to make her way to the Desert Sector where she would meet up with Ulrich and the rest of her friends.

* * *

Aelita phased through the wall of the way tower that led into the Valley Plateau to the sight of William, Hiroki, and Odd waiting for her. The virtual angel searched the clearing for the one person who was missing.

"Where's Ulrich?" Aelita asked as she reached her friends. They shared a few clueless glances and shrugs but before any of them could answer the angel, Ulrich entered the clearing from one of the valleys that fed into it.

"Here," the samurai commented bluntly as he walked slowly over to the group and heard Aelita's question. "We unlocking the Northern Wastes?" Aelita nodded. "Good," Ulrich enunciated slowly before turning his attention on the others. "Are you riding your vehicles?" Ulrich asked Aelita, looking back at her.

"Not this time," Jeremy reported from above. "I'm still having trouble materializing the vehicles in the Desert Sector, so you'll have to walk like last time."

"Just like the good old days," Aelita quipped, thinking back to the time before she had access to such transportation. To her surprise, a wry smile fleeting just briefly over Ulrich's face before fading back to the brooding mask he'd been wearing all too often as of late.

"This way," the samurai jerked his head, indicating the direction of the Northern Wastes before slowly turning around and taking off in that direction. The group followed him, Aelita and William sharing concerned looks as they did so. Ever since Ulrich's withholding of his knowledge of Yumi and the fourth sector had been made known to the others, Aelita felt as if a rift had begun to form in their group.

"So...how you been, Ulrich?" Odd asked, ever the one to break the ice. Aelita shot him a grateful look, even if the feline was not facing her. The hybrid was one of the few people who could get Ulrich to talk when the samurai was not feeling too conversational. All things considered, it was a bit ironic since Odd's ramblings were so often the target of Ulrich's complaints, but Aelita couldn't argue with the results.

"Well enough," Ulrich replied neutrally, glancing over at the hybrid as he added. "And you?"

"Eh, can't complain, school's a drag, but the food's great!" Odd shrugged amiably, his trademark grin spreading across his face. Aelita let out a quiet sigh of relief and let a small smile grace her features. It seemed as if the rift that had formed in their little group had healed somewhat since their last mission to unlock a tower in the Desert Sector. Needless to say, the tension in the air had been almost palpable then, especially considering the fact that almost everyone realized why Ulrich had initially kept his discovery a secret - he had not completely trusted his new companions. But that wasn't what had driven them apart. No, that was because Ulrich had kept the secret for so long before finally revealing it, and to the others that spoke leaps and bounds about how much the samurai actually trusted them - be it true or not.

Aelita was gently shaken from her thoughts be a hand resting briefly on her shoulder. The angel turned her head to the side to see William walking next to her.

"You look like you have a lot on your mind," the dopplesoldner commented sympathetically. Aelita gave the boy a wry smile.

"That's the understatement of the year," Aelita sighed. "I'm worried about Ulrich," the angel confided in her friend. "He was just starting to get used to being a part of a team." Aelita smiled softly as she added, "he'd even started getting along with Jeremy, and now," Aelita's voice faded away as she gestured to their meandering group. Ulrich was currently leading the way stoically, done talking with Odd for the moment, while the feline in question had dropped back to talk quietly, or nearly so, with Hiroki. And of course Aelita and William were still further back. From an outsider's perspective, the group no doubt looked like a cluster of strangers vaguely heading in the same direction rather than a team.

"I know what you mean," William assured the gentle angel. "I don't like it either. I probably could have reacted better to the news," William confessed ruefully. For the dopplesoldner, like Jeremy, had been less than pleased with Ulrich at the revelation of his secret. And unlike Odd and Aelita, who were more hurt than angry, or Hiroki, who was more confused than anything else, the two older boys had been more vocal in their condemnation of the samurai. "I know he had his reasons - and it's not like anyone was harmed by it. In the end, he told us, and that's all that should matter." William then shrugged amiably in Odd's direction, hoping to point out a silver lining. "On the bright side, at least Odd seems gotten over it."

"Well, that's one of the good things about, Odd," Aelita smiled faintly before sighing once more. "I just wish Jeremy would."

"Hey, you just gotta give him some time," William bumped his shoulder against Aelita's. "Those two are a lot alike in some ways. Their both dedicated, both loners in a way, both wary of other people, and," William finished with a wry grin. "Both extremely hard-headed. The only big difference between them is that Ulrich is better with acting in the moment, while Jeremy tends to consider the long term effects of things before acting."

"I guess so," Aelita agreed unconvincingly. They walked for a few more seconds before William broached the subject again.

"You should go talk to him. Tell him about what you and Jeremy found out about the towers," William suggested. An uncertain expression crossed Aelita's face.

"Are you sure? It's not exactly the kind of news that'll cheer him up," Aelita protested weakly.

"Doesn't matter. It'll help him know that we still trust him," William paused and then added. "And it'll mean a lot coming from you."

"Alright, I'll do it," Aelita conceded with a wry smile. "You sure know how to talk to a girl, don't you?"

"It's like Odd says, when you've got it, you've got it," William shrugged amiably, giving the pinkette an encouraging smile. Aelita rolled her eyes at his intentionally corny answer before speeding up her pace to catch up with Ulrich.

"Ulrich, wait up a moment," Aelita called out softly to the samurai as she jogged up next to him. Ulrich inclined his head slightly to glance at her. "Can we talk for a moment?"

"Of course," the samurai replied simply. "What is it?"

Aelita considered the best way to begin. "Jeremy and I have managed to decode some of the data we acquired from the locked towers." She decided at last.

"Oh," Ulrich commented nonchalantly. Aelita's face briefly twisted into a frustrated moue of exasperation at the samurai's lackluster tone before shaking it off.

"And we discovered something very strange," Aelita continued. This garnered more of the samurai's attention as he raised an eyebrow curiously and motioned for the angel to continue, which she did with a minute smile of triumph. "We found out that the towers weren't activated by Xana."

"What!?" Ulrich exclaimed in surprise, eliciting puzzled glances from Odd and Hiroki. The samurai lowered his voice as he continued. "What do you mean? I thought you said all towers were activated by Xana."

"When he attacks us," Aelita corrected, raising a finger in exception. "But you've seen me activate my own tower, and Jeremy's even activated a tower once or twice. And, of course, there was one time when...Franz Hopper activated a tower in the Forest Sector."

"The one that got destroyed," Ulrich nodded in recognition. "I remember you telling me about that." The samurai let the conversation fall silent before continuing. "So that broaches the question: if Xana didn't activate the towers, who did?"

"We don't know," Aelita shook her head, as puzzled as the samurai. "All we know is that Xana took over the towers for his own purposes. But what the original purpose for their activation was, your guess is as good as ours."

Ulrich mulled this over for a few moments.

"Could it have been Franz Hopper?" He suggested finally. Aelita gave a small, clueless shrug.

"Maybe," Aelita replied. "We don't know who else it could have been."

"Not necessarily," Ulrich began slowly. Aelita glanced at the samurai confused.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, it's pretty obvious that we were online some time before Jeremy woke us up," Ulrich began hesitantly. "After all, Franz Hopper _did_ use the supercomputer for quite a while if that diary of his you found in the database means anything. And unless he made us just before disappearing or whatever, then we must've had our memories of that time erased."

"Or degraded," Aelita conceded. "But what does that have to do with the activated towers?"

"Well, if Xana and Franz didn't activate the towers," Ulrich glanced sideways at the virtual angel. "Maybe you did."

"Me? But why would I do that?" Aelita exclaimed, her right hand flying to her chest as she involuntarily gestured to herself.

"Beats me," Ulrich shrugged. "I don't have any memories from before I woke up. Neither do you and Odd." The samurai hesitated for a moment before adding, "and neither did Yumi."

Aelita was silent for a long while afterwards, considering all the samurai had said. Ulrich knew she needed time to think and so left her to her silent musings, the two guardians walking amiably side by side. Aside from the murmur of voices behind them, and the occasional check-up from Jeremy, the group silently passed through the Floating Plains.

"It's a bit quiet," Ulrich noted as he surveyed the surrounding landscape. Aelita gave him a wry smile.

"Kinda ironic coming from you," Aelita smirked. The samurai rolled his eyes slightly.

"You know what I mean," Ulrich gestured to the surroundings. "We haven't seen a monster yet - and this place used to always have at least one tarantula crawling around."

"Maybe now that the tower is unlocked, they don't have any need to be here," Aelita suggested hopefully, but Ulrich shook his head.

"No, even before we unlocked the tower it was too quiet," Ulrich countered, thinking back to their last mission. "We only had too fight three bloks to get to the tower. You'd think if Xana wanted to stop us from unlocking them, he'd send a bit more."

"Well, I'll just be glad for an easy mission, if you don't mind," Aelita smirked teasingly.

"Same goes here," a voice came from behind them, and the two guardians turned to see Hiroki, Odd, and William, who had been the one who'd spoken out, closing the distance between them. "I have a history test that I can't afford to miss, and it probably be good for me _not_ to be late."

"Oh, I don't see what the big deal is," Odd put in carelessly. "I mean it's just a boring old test, after all."

"A boring old test like the one that just so happens to have lowered your grade by another mark," Jeremy scolded from above. Aelita smiled softly as her friend joined the conversation. "If you keep this up, you'll flunk out of Kadic, and then you're gonna have to come right back here."

"Aw, come on, you're making a big deal out of nothing," Odd pshawed optimistically. As Odd and Jeremy continued to banter back and forth, Ulrich leaned over to Aelita.

"Is this...school really that bad?" The samurai asked curiously. Aelita's lips quirked in amusement.

"Not if you work hard," Aelita replied softly, adding after a rueful glance backwards at Odd. "Or work at all, for that matter. You'll do fine," Aelita assured the brunette.

"And what did you do on the last question of the test that had Ms. Hertz so tied up, anyways?" Jeremy voice brokered their attention once more.

"Beats me," Odd shrugged, seeming genuinely confused. "On the last problem of the test, I just drew a picture of a cat and left. Maybe she has something against cats?" The feline suggested innocently.

"Odd, you're a piece of work, you know that?" Jeremy retorted, exasperated at the eccentric feline's clueless demeanor.

"Why thank you, Jeremy," Odd accepted what he thought was a compliment with exaggerated gratitude. "You know, it isn't everyday when someone manages to fully appreciate the amazing and incredible Odd the magnificent."

"Oh my...ugh," Jeremy let out a shuddering sigh of exasperation, much to the amusement of his friends, who all burst into laughter. Even Ulrich, Aelita noticed in the corner of her eye, cracked a small smile at the feline's antics.

"Well, Odd the magnificent," William chuckled joshingly. "If you're so amazing and incredible, why can't you ever beat Ulrich or Hiroki in a race."

This shut the hybrid up quickly, much to the further amusement of everyone else. Aelita joined gladly in with the laughter, assured now that the dark mood that had so far hung over their group was now dissipating. The group continued to tease and joke back and forth, Ulrich even joining in from time to time, until they reached the edge of the Floating Plains.

"We're here," Ulrich announced, bringing silence to the group as they gathered together to look across the rift that separated the two plateaus.

"Alright, you guys know the drill," Jeremy chimed in from above. "Once you enter the Northern Wastes, we'll drop out of communications. Now, William and Hiroki, I've managed to use some of data from the Ice Sector to make sure I can materialize you if you're devirtualized, so you don't have to have that hanging over your heads."

"Well, that's a relief," William commented gratefully, inclining his head to look down at Hiroki. "You ready, kid?"

"You betcha!" Hiroki exclaimed enthusiastically, as William gazed around the group, receiving a variety of affirmations.

"Alright, we're going in," Aelita called up to her friend before turning to Ulrich. "Okay, Ulrich,, lead the way."

The samurai nodded in assent and began making his way along the chasm that separated the Floating Plains from the Northern Wastes. As they passed along the edge, it was Hiroki who first noticed the ruined remains of a land bridge.

"Whoa, what happened there?" Hiroki asked in astonishment. Ulrich allowed himself a fleeting glance at the destroyed structure.

"I collapsed the bridge to keep monsters from crossing," Ulrich stated simply before adding ruefully. "With nothing but my sword. Took forever."

"I can imagine," William commented. "So are we going to the other bridge, then?"

"One of the others," Ulrich corrected. "There were three bridges. Of course, now there's just one."

"Did you hack through that one with your sword, too," Hiroki asked incredulously, but Ulrich shook his head.

"No, it was much larger than that bridge," at this Ulrich jerked his head back to indicate the broken stone archway they had just passed. "I got a megatank to do the job for me."

"Huh? How'd you do that?" Odd asked, equal parts confused and curious. Ulrich shrugged again.

"Lured it to the edge, and when it was charging its ray, I sprinted into it full speed and knocked it off the side just as it fired," the samurai grimaced as he rolled his right shoulder and rubbed it with his left arm. "Hurt like crazy, though."

"I bet it did, those megatanks are tough customers," Odd chattered lively. "And they're such cheaters, too, always closing themselves up before you can hit them."

Ulrich shrugged before turning his attention back to the land ahead. "Here we are," the samurai announced, indicating the land bridge before them.

"Good luck, guys," Jeremy called down to them. "I'll have the unlocking program ready for activation soon as you enter the tower."

"Alright, Jeremy," Aelita replied confidently, as the group began to cross the bridge, which was several times thicker than the previous one, being wide enough for two megatanks to roll over side by side. No doubt that was one of the reasons Ulrich had not even attempted to collapse the bridge. As the group made their way towards the nearest canyon, Odd let out a low whistle.

"Wow, what happened here?" The feline motioned to the entire landscape, which was pockmarked with small, blackened craters and had strewn about it the remnants of rock formations. "Looks like a war happened here."

"A war did happen here," Ulrich replied solemnly as they entered the one unblocked pass. "This is where I held off Xana until you guys came along."

Aelita noted how he did not mention that Xana had been the one to end the fighting in order to try and enlist Ulrich. No doubt the samurai did not want to sally the mood that thought. The others, in the meantime, looked around with something akin to awe. They had of course heard Ulrich's stories about his battles, but, used to hearing Odd's own tales, had always held the belief that there had been some exaggeration. Now that they were here, they could all see that the samurai had added nothing to his stories.

"We'll reach the tower soon," Ulrich told his companions. "Keep an eye out for monsters. It's been far too quiet."

With that, they entered the tower's clearing, senses alert to any sound or movement, Aelita noting a nearby slab of rock that appeared to have a map etched on it. As they reached the halfway point between the canyon entrance and the tower, they came to a cautious halt.

"I don't see a welcoming committee," Odd commented, sounding almost like a complaint. "And here I thought we were Xana's favorite guests!"

"Don't speak to soon, Odd," William warned, as he surveyed the surroundings vigilantly. "We don't know where - ARGH!" Two disks of light suddenly flashed out of seemingly nowhere and sliced through William's chest. The dopplesoldner disintegrated into a flurry of pixels as he fell to his knees.

"Over there!" Hiroki cried, drawing his weapon, and rushing towards where a darkly-clad figure had emerged from the rocks. Ulrich's eyes widened in recognition, but before he could stop the shinobi, Hiroki had uncoiled the chain of his kasari-gama and whirled the scythe-like weapon towards the ninja. Ulrich needn't have been worried, however, as the girl bent over double backwards to avoid the razor-sharp blade of the kasari-gama before catching the handle portion as fast as lightning. In an equally rapid movement, the ninja grabbed hold of the weapon's chain in her other hand and yanked it towards her with such force that it pulled Hiroki along with it. With a twirl of the scythe, the ninja impaled Hiroki with his own weapon, the young shinobi crying out in shock and pain before devirtualizing.

* * *

Two scanners hissed open in short succession as William and Hiroki stumbled out of them, each grasping at their chests.

"What happened?" William finally managed to gasp, wincing as he did so. Hiroki knelt to the floor at the phantom feeling of his own weapon piercing through his chest.

"Some girl came out of nowhere and threw these glowing disks at you," Hiroki explained when he had recovered his breath. He winced in embarrassment as he continued. "And then she devirtualized me with my own weapon," Hiroki slapped his head in frustration. "Argh, I'm such a noob!"

"Well let's see if Jeremy can shed some light on the subject," William announced, heading over towards the elevator with Hiroki following not far behind. "I don't know about you, but I don't like being ambushed."

"Me either," Hiroki groaned as he stepped into the lift. The young boy cast a worried glance back at the scanners. "I hope the others are okay."

* * *

Back on Lyoko, the Lyoko Guardians stood tense, weapons at the ready as the ninja retrieved her tessen fans and moved to stand between them and the tower.

"Yumi?" Ulrich exclaimed in disbelief. "What are you-" and then the samurai noticed the symbol emblazoned on the ninja's chest, the Eye of Xana. "How could you side with Xana?"

"How could you side with Jeremy?" Yumi shrugged philosophically. "I made a decision." At this the ninja assumed a ready stance and flicked open her fans. "I don't want to fight you," Yumi warned. "But I will if I have to. You're not going to unlock this tower."

"Says you and what army!?" Odd cried out suddenly, as he raised his paws and let out a double volley of laser arrows before either Aelita or Ulrich could stop him.

Yumi quickly blocked the flurry of projectiles with her fans and then somersaulted through the volley of laser arrows before rolling on the ground just in front of Odd and thrusting her feet up into his chest, sending the feline flying through the air with a shout, all in little more than a second. Now standing between a surprised Aelita and Ulrich, Yumi held out a fan to each of them as a warning.

"I don't want to fight you," Yumi repeated, looking at Ulrich as she did so. "But I will if I have to."

Ulrich met Aelita's eyes from across the standoff. Without speaking, the virtual angel was able to divine the samurai's plan, nodding ever so slightly. Aelita began to edge away slowly while Ulirch focused his attention on Yumi.

"So be it," the samurai growled, rushing the ninja. "Triplicate!" In a blur of yellow, two more samurai shot from the original and surrounded Yumi. The ninja, for a brief moment, was overwhelmed by the sudden appearances, unsure of which samurai was the real Ulrich. That was all the distraction Aelita needed, and the angel waved a hand over her star bracelet, activating her wings and taking off towards the tower. The ninja narrowed her eyes once she had noticed but was forced to contend with the multiple Ulrich clones surrounding her.

"As much as I like the company," Yumi quipped smoothly. "I've got other things to be doing." With that, Yumi flung two of her fans towards the center and left samurai. They disintegrated in a shower of pixels, leaving the real Ulrich standing off to Yumi's right, temporarily stunned at how she could have guessed which one he was. Using his distraction to her advantage, Yumi caught her fans and sent one flying towards Aelita. Realizing her intent, Ulrich rushed the ninja. Unable to prevent her attack on Aelita, the samurai swung a katana full force towards the ninja. Yumi dodged with a cry of surprise, then realized she had not been the target, as her remaining fan shattered under the force of the impact from Ulrich's blade. At the same time, Yumi's other fan clipped Aelita's wings, causing the angel to fall to a painful skid on the sandstone floor of the canyon, just out of reach from the tower.

"My fan!" Yumi cried out in dismay, shaking her hand, which had been wrenched painfully to the side by the blow, about the air. She glared at the samurai. "That was a cheap shot," she grimaced angrily. Ulrich shrugged.

"So was that," he gestured to the downed Aelita before beginning to circle Yumi, causing the ninja to do the same until her back was turned to Aelita, who had begun to recover from her fall. A high pitched whir sliced through the air as Yumi's fan returned to her hand. She gave Ulrich a disgruntled look before suddenly charging forward, wielding her fan like a small blade.

Ulrich jumped out of the way, lifting his arms to avoid the slicing fan, only to realize he had fallen for the same trick he had used against Yumi. As soon as the samurai had moved to dodge, Yumi had folded and stowed her fan. Pushing off the ground, Yumi flipped over Ulrich, grabbing one of his swords in both her hands and wrenching from his gasp.

"What?" Ulrich exclaimed, examining his hand in surprise, before shaking his head and focusing an irritated glare on Yumi, who was smirking saucily as she held one of Ulrich's katana. The samurai drew his other sword, tossing it to his other hand as he did so before brandishing it point first towards Yumi. "Alright, if that's how you want to do it."

"Don't mind if I do," Yumi smirked coyly. Now it was the ninja who was on the offensive. Lighting the blade up with red energy, Yumi charged the samurai, swiping the sword back and forth in a series of graceful thrusts and parries, while Ulrich countered with his own katana, blade flashing blue as it clashed with Yumi's.

"Hey, forgot about me?" Odd called indignantly as he raced across the clearing from where he had finally managed to get himself unstuck from the pair of boulders he had been wedged into by Yumi's kick.

"Trying to," Yumi shrugged saucily, drawing her remaining tessen fan and flicking it open to block the feline's incoming volley of laser arrows. As the last two arrows approached her, Yumi bent over backwards, allowing the laser arrow to fly past her, while simultaneously deflecting one of the projectiles. The first arrow impacted Ulrich in the shoulder, while the deflected shot hit Odd on his right foot.

"Ow!" Both boys cried, Odd grabbing his foot in pain, while Ulrich cast an annoyed glare at the feline, having stumbled backwards and grasped his shoulder in pain. "Hey, watch it, Odd!" The samurai cried belligerently.

"Sorry, Ulrich," Odd called as he continued to hop around the clearing, foot in hand, before tripping over a protruding and falling flat on his face.

"A bit of a klutz, your friend," Yumi raised an eyebrow in laughter. Ulrich ignored the jest and just responded with an expression of determination.

"Why are you doing this? Why did you ally with Xana?" Ulrich demanded. Yumi seemed a bit put off by the samurai's tone but answered all the same.

"To protect our world," Yumi twirled her katana and clashing it against Ulrich's, the two combatants pushing against each other until they were face to face. "What right does Jeremy have to destroy it? All Xana wants is to survive. Is that such a crime?"

"It is when he poses a danger to countless others," Ulrich grunted as he shoved his sword against Yumi's, pushing them apart. "He's already threatened the lives of dozens of people."

"In self-defense," Yumi retorted, readying her katana, charging it with crimson energy once more. "Don't tell me you've never been prepared to do the same."

The samurai hesitated for a moment. He had been more than ready to on multiple occasions. Ulrich shook his head. He never intentionally endangered others if there was a way around it. Drawing his sword arm back, it was Ulrich's turn to strike. Lunging forward, the samurai raised his sword and brought it down on Yumi's, the ninja having to press her other hand against the blade to hold it up.

"I won't lie, and say I haven't," the samurai grunted as he pushed Yumi closer to the ground, his strength beginning to overwhelm her's as her knees and elbows buckled from the force applied. "But there are lines I won't cross. Xana doesn't have any."

"And how would you know that?" Yumi snapped, suddenly letting herself fall against the ground before catching Ulrich with her feet and flipping the samurai over her. "It could have easily possessed me or simply destroyed me, but it didn't."

"Well, either way," the samurai got to his feet, noticing Odd getting back up out of the corner of his eye. "This fight is over." At this the samurai gestured behind the ninja with his sword. Yumi spun around and frowned at the sight of Aelita entering the tower. Turning back to face Ulrich and Odd, she threw the samurai's sword into the ground, the blade impaling itself into the sandstone, the red energy fading away.

"Well played," Yumi conceded. "Until next time."

Before either guardian could do anything, the ninja crossed her arms in front of her chest and devirtualized in front of them.

"Yumi!" Ulrich cried out in shock, looking around the clearing frantically. "What happened?" Ulrich shot an accusatory glare at Odd, who simply spread his paws out.

"Wasn't me," the feline reported.

* * *

Jeremy watched as the unlocking protocols finished and he was able to reestablish contact with Aelita. Having heard William and Hiroki's report, the blond could easily anticipate Aelita's first request.

"Jeremy, we've found Yumi!" Aelita informed frantically. "She's sided with Xana. Ulrich and Odd are keeping her busy. If she runs can you track her?"

"I can try," Jeremy replied, typing in the necessary command codes to perform the procedure. For a brief moment, Jeremy managed to lock onto Yumi's signal, until suddenly it vanished.

"What the-?" Jeremy frowned, checking the program he had been running. "Aelita, Yumi's signal has just disappeared from my scanners."

"You mean she's...?" Aelita began fearfully, but Jeremy shook his head, then, upon realizing the virtual angel could not see him, replied out loud.

"No, I don't think so," Jeremy scrutinized the scans more thoroughly. "It looks more like she's...transferred to another sector? Considering I can't track her, I think we can safely assume it was the Mountain Sector."

"You mean she's still alive?" Ulrich asked suddenly, and Jeremy realized the samurai, and by extension Odd, had been listening into the conversation. Jeremy could hardly avoid noticing the hope in Ulrich's voice.

"Most likely," Jeremy assured the warrior. "She was probably recalled by Xana once she failed in her mission."

Ulrich felt a wave of uncertainty at the blond's words. What would be the consequences of Yumi's failure? A gentle hand on his shoulder broke him away from his fretful thoughts. The samurai looked over to see Aelita standing next to him.

"We have to go, Ulrich," Aelita apologized softly. "Or we'll be missed. And that'll cause more problems than it'll solve."

Ulrich nodded his head in understanding. "I understand. Go on," the samurai urged the girl, adding at the uncertain look on her face. "I'll be fine. I'll stay here until you return." Ulrich then gestured to his old war map. "I'll be safe enough here, besides," he added grimly. "Maybe I can find out more about Yumi's whereabouts, or at least make sure there aren't any monsters wandering around the desert."

"Alright," the angel conceded hesitantly before turning to walk back into the tower. About to enter, Aelita cast one last long look over her shoulder at Ulrich. "Be careful, okay?"

"Always am," Ulrich smirked wryly. Aelita replied with a slight smile of her own before phasing into the tower along with Odd. Once they were gone, Ulrich turned to gaze out into the horizon, his thoughts on Yumi. Where she could be, and if she was alright. He worried again what would happen to the ninja, having failed her mission.

But the samurai worried in the vain. For, unbeknownst to Ulrich, Yumi had not failed.

_Back in the mist covered peaks of the Mountain Sector a figure materialized above one of the floating platforms of rock. Yumi dropped to the ground, catching herself gracefully on the smooth, cool ground, so in contrast with the rough, warm sandstone of the desert. Standing up straight the ninja announced, "I have completed my mission." A moment passed before a cold, impassive voice reverberated through her mind. __**Excellent. All short term objectives have been achieved. **__Silence returned to Yumi's mind. Almost longing for the voice, the ninja spoke up again. "What is my next mission?" To her relief, the imposing voice returned. __**You will continue providing resistance against the Lyoko Warriors. Utilize all necessary resources in the Desert Sector to accomplish this.**__ With that, Xana spoke in her mind no more, and Yumi knew it would be some time before such contact was necessary. Her lips setting in a determined line and her hands tightening into fists resolutely, Yumi sat down and assumed a lotus posture. Shutting her eyes and focusing her mind, the ninja connected to Lyoko on a deeper level, awaiting the time when the Lyoko Warriors would move to unlock another tower. And when they did, she would be waiting._

**Post Story Author's Note: Well, that wraps up Chapter Nineteen. I hope you all enjoyed. Please tell me what you think, good or bad, in the reviews (thanks in advance, by the way), and until next time, readers, when the Lyoko Warriors will do battle over the Eastern Wastes.  
**


	20. Chapter 20

**Author's Note: And here's Chapter Twenty! Thanks for your reviews once again, they are very much appreciated. Anyways, it has come to my attention that some of you might be confused as to why Ulrich was concerned when Yumi transferred to the Mountain Sector. The reason he was concerned was that he didn't know she was transferring: he thought she was being devirtualized. Which for a Lyoko Guardian is permanent. Hence his concern. So with that cleared up and no more questions, I hope you enjoy this latest installment.  
**

**Now on with the story...**

_Yumi strolled along one of the pathways that wrapped around the Twin Peaks. She was gazing over the edge of the escarpment, her eyes following the paths of the soothing clouds of mist, when a sharp series of metallic clanks sounded behind her. The ninja growled in frustration as she face palmed before whirling around and snapping, "Would you creeps stop following me!?" Her belligerent command was targeted at the two kankrelats that had apparently taken it upon themselves to follow her around. For some reason, out of all of Xana's creatures, the roach-like monsters outright disturbed and disgusted the ninja. At first Yumi had thought Xana had sent them to watch her, but after passing nearly a dozen other monsters, many of which would have been more suited to the task, and having nothing but the kankrelats following, the ninja could only conclude that the disgusting, little creatures had gotten the memo not to attack her but apparently were at a lose as to what else to spend their time on. The diminutive bug-like creatures that she had yelled at seemed temporarily taken aback by the ninja's anger before seemingly deciding to think nothing of it and began approaching the girl once more. "I said get away, you miserable kankrelats!" Yumi thundered as she launched her right foot forward, sending the nearest kankrelat plummeting into the Digital Sea. The ninja was about to do the same to its companion when something stirred in her mind. Yumi frowned in concentration and focused her mind on the feeling. An image suddenly appeared in her mind: five figures walking across the desert and entering what the ninja recognized as the Eastern Wastes. Opening her eyes and giving one last disgusted glare at the intimidated kankrelat cowering before her, Yumi crossed her arms in front of her and cleared her mind, focusing all her thought on the Eastern Wastes. Soon she felt the now familiar feeling of transference as her body was devirtualized from the Mountain Sector and into the Desert Sector. Landing gracefully on the desert sands of the Eastern Wastes, one hand thrust against the ground to catch her fall, Yumi straightened up to face the tower before her. Briefly she pondered her strategy and decided that some help would be required. Quickly the ninja called to some of the nearby creatures. With Xana's creatures on the way, Yumi took her position by the tower and waited for the inevitable arrival of the Lyoko Warriors._

Ulrich twisted through the air as he dodged the bursts of energy flying towards him from the twin cannons of two tarantulas. For several days, the samurai had been watching the Valley Plateau, searching for a pattern in the movements of monsters. Eventually he had deduced that a pair of tarantulas were in constant patrol of the area, circling round the plateau before crossing diagonally through it. So naturally, the samurai had prepared an ambush. Unfortunately for Ulrich, the tarantulas had altered course at the last second, and the samurai, unwilling to let the monsters reach wherever they were headed, was forced to attack preemptively. This meant assaulting the massive creatures over open ground instead of the crevices and slopes of the valley they would have gone through. The samurai's clones had been taken out fairly early on in the fight, and so Ulrich was left to battle the tarantulas on his own.

"Today's just not my day," the samurai grumbled as he rapidly deflected a volley of laser bolts in a flurry of movement before mentally triggering his super-sprint and racing out of the line of fire. To say Ulrich was annoyed would be understatement. And he wasn't just annoyed by the fact that the tarantulas, for whatever reason, had picked this moment to alter their path. No, he was also irritated by how poorly, in his opinion, he was performing against the two imposing monsters. Once he would have been able to hold off three of the beasts, but now he was having trouble with just two of them. As Ulrich alternated between dodging out of the lines of fire and deflecting the energy blasts, he realized that his time with the Lyoko Wanderers had softened him up a bit - having become used to relying on them for backup in case something went wrong. Managing to reflect a laser bolt back at one of his attackers, the blast grazing the tarantula's shoulder, the monster screeching in rage, Ulrich decided to go on more solo patrols, less planning and more action to keep his reflexes sharp.

Speaking of reflexes, the samurai's were finally breached by a single energy bolt. Ulrich cried out in pain as the blast struck his shoulder, knocking him back and flinging his left-hand katana out of his grasp. Growling lowly under his breath, Ulrich stood back up, hand on his shoulder. Before either he or the tarantulas could move to attack, however, a clear voice rang out through the dry air of the desert. "Energy Field!" Aelita cried from somewhere above, a sphere of pink energy flying down towards the farthest tarantula. The massive monster stumbled backwards as the energy matrix engulfed its body, before exploding apart in a shower of components. Taking advantage of the distraction, Ulrich hurled his other katana at the second tarantula, striking the monster directly on its mark, causing the creature to meet a similar fate as its former companion. Ulrich walked over to his swords, picked the katanas up and sheathed them.

"I could've handled them," Ulrich blustered halfheartedly, turning to face Aelita as she landed delicately on the ground. The virtual angel gave the samurai a knowing look. "What are you doing around here, anyways?"

"What, you mean I can't just visit a friend?" Aelita huffed in annoyance. Ulrich raised an eyebrow meaningfully and the pinkette conceded. "Okay, fine, so I'm here to get you for a mission." Aelita then crossed her arms indignantly. "Besides, I do come to visit you some times."

"Huh, thought it was the other way around," Ulrich teased dryly, walking up to stand in front of the girl. "What's the mission, then? Has Xana woken up or are we going to unlock another tower?"

"We're going to unlock another tower," Aelita shook her head. "If Xana had activated a tower in the Desert Sector, you'd be the first to know."

"True," Ulrich admitted, realizing it had been somewhat nonsensical for him to ask the question in the first place. "So where are we headed too?"

"The Eastern Wastes," Aelita informed the samurai, and he nodded knowingly, recalling his time spent exploring the desolate land just north of his oasis.

"That was the first place I explored after my oasis," Ulrich hummed thoughtfully to himself. "We should probably be on the look out for megatanks when we get there. Usually there's one wandering around somewhere."

"I get the feeling a megatank will be the least of our problems," Aelita confided in the samurai as they turned to walk towards the Floating Plains, over which they would have to cross to reach their destination.

"Yumi," Ulrich said simply, guessing at Aelita's thoughts. The angel winced slightly in uncertainty at hearing the samurai utter the ninja's name. For whatever reason, Aelita always treated the topic of the mountain guardian with caution around the virtual samurai. "You think she might be there?"

"I don't see why not," Aelita shrugged. "She may not have beat us last time, but she certainly put up one heck of a fight."

"She was holding back," Ulrich divulged to the angel. Following Aelita's surprised and confused expression, the samurai elaborated. "Maybe not against Hiroki and William, but against you and me and Odd, she was. There were plenty of occasions where she could have devirtualized us easily." Ulrich then added with a meaningful look at the gentle angel next to him. "Yumi could have just as well sent her fans flying through your body instead of your wings."

"So she doesn't want to devirtualize us any more than we want to devirtualize her?" Aelita reasoned cautiously, shying away from the word 'kill' and instead using devirtualize. But for the Lyoko Guardians, the two terms might as well be synonymous.

"Seems that way," Ulrich shrugged. "Either way, at least in that respect we're on equal footing - we're both holding back. Not by much, but we are."

"Maybe there's hope for her yet," Aelita ventured hopefully. Ulrich turned an annoyed eye on the pinkette.

"She's not possessed by Xana. She's not captured," the samurai said sharply. "She _chose_ to side with him - and I'm sure she had a good reason for it." Ulrich added. "Even if it's a bit misguided."

"Right, of course," Aelita replied meekly, appearing a bit taken aback by the samurai's tone. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean it...like that."

"No, I'm sorry," the samurai sighed, having instantly regretted his sharp comment. "I shouldn't have snapped. It's just," Ulrich paused hesitantly for a moment before continuing cautiously. "It's just, I don't see the line between you and Jeremy and Xana as clearly as you do. I mean, I know Xana's done some bad things," Ulrich amended hastily at the pinkette's offended expression. "But, for me they're...distant." The samurai sighed once more. "I don't really know how to explain it."

"I think I understand," Aelita assured Ulrich soothingly. "You may have fought Xana's creatures before we found you, but you were never really fighting _him_. You were just trying to survive."

"And that's what Yumi says Xana is trying to do," Ulrich added wearily. "I don't know if that's true or not. But either way, I guess you could say I can relate."

"It _is_ true that Xana is trying to survive," Aelita admitted slowly, choosing her words carefully. Ulrich glanced at her curiously. "But he's threatening a lot of people - everyone really, doing it. And we can't just let that happen."

"I suppose you're right," Ulrich nodded his head before giving Aelita a tired smile. "I guess we'd better get on that, then, huh?"

"I guess we'd better," Aelita grinned back, bumping his shoulder lightly. "Now come on, the others will be arriving soon. What do you say to beating them to the rendezvous point?"

"It'll be my pleasure," Ulrich smirked amiably, and at that Aelita activated her wings and soared up into the sky, while Ulrich triggered his super-sprint. The two guardians darted across the landscape, Ulrich making sure to hold back his speed so Aelita could keep up. Eventually they reached the Floating Plains and, crossing it, approached the edge of the Eastern Wastes, where they would await the arrival of William, Odd, and Hiroki.

* * *

William, Odd, and Hiroki materialized over the desert sands of the Floating Plains. Miniature clouds of dust sprang up from where they landed. William and Hiroki adjusted their weapons to ride more comfortably on their shoulders, while Odd looked around hopefully before grinning in triumph.

"Ha!" The enthused feline exclaimed jubilantly. "Looks like we beat them again!"

"Wouldn't bet on that," a smug voice confuted coolly from behind Odd. The feline whirled around in dismay to see Ulrich and Aelita stepping out from behind one of the few boulders that dotted this region of the Floating Plains. Aelita wore a smug look, while Ulrich, the one who had spoken out, had less of an expression and more of an air of superiority about him.

"What's the matter, Odd? Cat got your tongue?" Aelita asked with an air of irony at the hybrid's temporary silence. William and Hiroki had to chuckle at the petulant expression that twisted Odd's face as he huffed indignantly.

"Yeah? Well, if you were here first," Odd contested sulkily. "Then why are _we _closer to the Eastern Wastes than you, huh?"

Aelita and Ulrich shared an amused glance.

"What makes you think we aren't?" Aelita asked innocently, although anyone standing nearby would easily be able to discern the mischievous tint in her eyes. Odd gave her a patronizing look.

"Because east is that way," Odd declared matter-of-factually, pointing a claw in the direction of the sun. "And we're closer to the east than you are."

"Yeah, that's all well and good, Odd," Ulrich smirked smugly, jerking his thumb backwards over his shoulder. "Except east is that way."

"Huh?" Odd turned around towards the sun then, as if suddenly realizing for the first time that he was in the desert, palmed his face in frustration. "Aw, come on!" Odd muffled through his paw, letting it slide down his face before complaining. "Why'd you have to make the sun west, anyways?"

"Well, I thought it was to give me a sense of direction, but now I see it was just to give you a hard time," Ulrich chuckled teasingly. The others laughed at the disconsolate expression on Odd's face. As the laughter died down, Aelita suddenly realized someone was missing.

"Hey, I haven't heard from Jeremy, yet," Aelita frowned, glancing upwards as she added. "Jeremy, are you there?"

"Oh, he's there, princess," William informed the angel reassuringly. "He just spontaneously decided to test out a communications diagnostic program on his way over to the factory. He told us he'd be out of contact for a few minutes."

"Pfft, guess I told him to save it for tomorrow in vain, then," Aelita rolled her eyes, shrugging her shoulders indifferently.

"Guess you did," William smirked affirmatively.

"Has he always been like that?" Hiroki asked curiously, and Aelita was reminded that the young shinobi was not only new to their group but new to Kadic as well.

"Ever since he woke me up," Aelita smiled fondly. "As for how he was like before then, you'll have to ask him yourself."

"Hmph, good luck with that," Odd snorted. "Talk to him about pretty much anything that doesn't have to do with school or Xana, and he's about as talkative as a kankrelat."

"I wouldn't worry about that too much," Ulrich shrugged casually, everyone turning their gaze to the samurai curiously. "You talk enough to make up for it."

The group shared another laugh at Odd's expense, the feline crossing his arms with a petulant, knowing expression plastered onto his face. In the midst of the laughter, Jeremy's voice suddenly chimed in, the young genius presumably done testing his diagnostics program.

"Alright, guys, the comm is back online," Jeremy reported, then asking in a somewhat puzzled voice. "What'd I miss?"

"Something quite incredible," William smirked. "Ulrich made a joke."

"Huh, I think the diagnostics program is buggy," Jeremy said flatly, adding for good measure. "I could have sworn you said Ulrich made a joke."

"Your program's working just fine, Jeremy," Aelita winked at Ulrich, who rolled his eyes ever so slightly in mock exasperation. "Are you ready for us to enter the Eastern Wastes?"

"Ready whenever you are," Jeremy replied back amiably.

"Then what are we waiting for?" Hiroki asked excitedly, nearly hopping off the ground from his enthusiasm. "Let's get going!"

"Hold on just a moment," Jeremy reigned in the excited young shinobi. "The others might want their vehicles first." With that a cacophony of clacks signaled the arrival of the three vehicles. As was becoming customary, Odd took the overboard, Aelita took the overwing, and William claimed the overbike, while Hiroki and Ulrich opted to use their abilities. Aelita glanced fretfully over to the two oriental-inspired boys.

"Are you sure you'll be alright?" The angel asked, clearly recalling the fact that both of them had nearly worn themselves out from traversing the Blizzard Plateaus in such a manner.

"We'll be fine," Ulrich shrugged. "The tower may be closer to the edge than most," Aelita winced slightly in fear at that, "but we won't be winding around this way and that like in the Blizzard Plateaus. Plus we won't be so hard pressed to go our fastest."

"Yeah, don't worry, Aelita," Hiroki chimed in cheerfully. "We'll be fine."

"If you say so," Aelita conceded hesitantly with a mild shrug, revving up the overwing as she said so. "Let's get going then."

Aelita urged the overwing forward and, with her friends close behind, soared over one of the many land bridges that led into the Eastern Wastes. The plateau itself wasn't much to look at. Unlike the rest of the Desert Sector, it lacked many of the rock formations, possessing only a sparse scattering of rock piles and shallow, ragged trenches. Even from so far away, they could all see their target looming over the distant landscape.

"Doesn't look like there's anybody home," Odd noted from his perch on the overboard, which at present was elevated above his companions' heads. Aelita guided the overwing upwards and saw that, just as the feline had said, it appeared as if the area around the tower was deserted.

"Appearances can be deceiving," Ulrich warned gruffly. "They might just be hiding out of view."

"Not that there's much to hide behind," William commented, honestly enough, as the only thing sufficiently large enough to hide all but the smallest of monsters behind was the tower itself.

"Ulrich is right, though. We should be cautious," Aelita posited diplomatically. The others nodded their assent, Odd, per the norm, doing so more flamboyantly.

"Yeah, any monsters messin' with us will have to say hello to these beauties!" Odd proclaimed confidently, holding up his paws and miming shooting down monsters. Ulrich snorted in derisive amusement, while Aelita and William smirked knowingly at the self-confident feline.

* * *

The journey across the Eastern Wastes was an uneventful one, and they soon reached the tower. Aelita, Odd, and William brought their vehicles to a stop a respectful distance from the tower, while Ulrich surged to a halt, and Hiroki coalesced back into his shinobi form, promptly talking as soon as he did so.

"Man, I hope this is gonna be more interesting than the rest of this mission," Hiroki complained talkatively. "We haven't even seen one monster yet!"

"Be careful what you wish for," Ulrich warned the young shinobi grimly, although Hiroki did not seem too put off by the samurai's gruff-as-usual mood. With Aelita leading the way, the group slowly and cautiously made their way to the tower.

"Keep an eye out for any of Xana's monsters," Aelita instructed her friends over her shoulder. "I'll start the tower unlocking sequence."

Suddenly the wall of the tower ripple outward and from the massive structure stepped a familiar, maroon-clad form.

"I'm afraid I can't allow you to do that," Yumi announced as the ninja moved to stand in front of the tower.

"Oh yeah," Odd proclaimed belligerently, Ulrich and William sharing a knowing look as he did so. "Says you and what army."

"This army," Yumi narrowed her eyes menacingly as she flicked out her twin tessen fans. As if on cue, three tarantulas emerged from behind the tower, two on the left and one on the right. Ulrich shot a sideways glance at Hiroki, who was looking ruefully at the trio of massive creatures.

"Told you," Ulrich shrugged unapologetically, before drawing his twin katanas, a motion that prompted the others to do the same with their weapons. Noting this, Yumi jerked her head towards the group in a signal to the monsters behind her.

"Engage the guardians," Yumi instructed the three tarantulas coolly. "The humans are mine."

In short succession, Ulrich, Odd, and Aelita found themselves forced to dodge this way and that as each tarantula knelt down and began unleashing a barrage of laser fire at one of the guardians. With no suitable cover in sight, the three guardians were forced to rely on their reflexes and agility to avoid the deadly volleys of energy.

Meanwhile, Yumi had shot forward towards William, sending one of her fans whizzing through the air towards the dopplesoldner as she did so. William barely managed to raise Zweihänder in time to deflect the deadly tessen. As it was, the dopplesoldner was knocked back a step by the impact. Taking advantage of this, Yumi raced forward, leaped into the air, before landing on the horizontally oriented sword with both feet, then, in the blink of an eye, pushing off of Zweihänder with the full strength of her legs. This caused William to fall heavily against the ground, carried there not only by Yumi's kick but by the weight of his own sword. Yumi twisted in the air as she soared backwards, so that the ninja was facing Hiroki when she landed, catching her still flying fan in the process.

"Alright, short stuff, you're next," Yumi jeered caustically. Hiroki scowled at the ninja's remark before brandishing his kasari-gama and rushing forward, opting this time to use the weapon in its short range capacity.

"Yaaaah!" Hiroki cried out as he slashed his scythe-like blade towards Yumi's torso, briefly forgetting that doing so would result in the ninja's permanent devirtualization. Of course, that never got a chance to happen, as the shinobi's blade cut through empty air and, with a deft kick, Yumi sent the kasari-gama flying from the young boy's hands.

"Ah, come on! Not again," Hiroki complained crossly. He suddenly had do duck out of the way as Yumi's fans soared over his head. Stumbling backwards away from the ninja, Hiroki, being weaponless, held up his fists defiantly. Yumi laughed at the sight as her tessens returned to her.

"What are you going to do? Punch me?" The ninja ridiculed the shinobi belittlingly. A light went on in Hiroki's eyes, and the shinobi let a small, confident smirk cross his face.

"Exactly," Hiroki retorted smugly. "Super-smoke!" Hiroki's body was surrounded by a thick dark cloud of smoke before merging with the substance and surging towards Yumi. The ninja, caught a bit off guard by this latest development, attempted to swipe her razor-sharp fans through the shinobi's smoke form as it zipped under her legs. The ninja caught slightly off balance thanks to the momentum of the movement, Hiroki reformed behind Yumi and punched her left arm deliberately. The ninja stumbled away and cried out in pain as her left arm was suddenly engulfed in what appeared to yellow paralyzing energy field matrix.

"Argh, you little twerp!" Yumi cried out angrily, briefly losing her cool at the numbness in her left arm. An amused smirk briefly touched William's lips at the ninja's lose of her temper, as the dopplesoldner rushed towards the ninja with Zweihänder in hand. Hiroki, on the other hand, seemed almost taken back by the ninja's words, which had somehow managed to strike a chord in him. Taking advantage of the young shinobi's distraction, Yumi used her remaining fan, as the other had fallen out of her left hand, to slice through Hiroki's chest, devirtualizing him instantly.

"Hiroki!" William shouted out instinctively. Yumi had no time to gloat as she quickly had to dodge out of the way of the massive Zweihänder - not an easy task when one of your arms is limp and useless. Managing to dodge out of the path of the enormous sword once more as William swung it back round, Yumi realized she would not be able to withstand the dopplesoldner's assault for much longer with her arm disabled. William smirked at her as she continued to retreat. "What's the matter? Can't beat me with an arm tied behind your back?" William joked, inverting the saying to the ninja's annoyance. Instead of replying, Yumi simply tucked and rolled beneath the boy, before catching his stomach with her feet and flinging him over her.

"In your dreams," Yumi tossed her head haughtily, before directing her attention to the nearest tarantula, which just so happened to be the one exchanging volleys with Odd. "Executioner!" Yumi called out in a commanding tone, mentally sending her instructions to the creature. The tarantula pivoted its forelegs and directed its fire towards William, who was forced to parry the laser bolts.

"Executioner? Man, and I thought _Ulrich_ came up with depressing names," Odd quipped as the feline readied his wrists to take another pot shot at the tarantula when Ulrich interrupted him.

"Odd, ignore that one for now and help out Aelita!" The samurai instructed as his twin katanas whirled through the air, deflecting and blocking his tarantula's energy blasts in the process. Odd hesitated for a moment, looking between his tarantula and Ulrich, before whirling around and racing on all fours to where Aelita was circling in the sky, attempting to hit the tarantula firing at her with an energy field.

Elsewhere across the battle, Yumi was glaring at her numb arm angrily. Glancing around the barren, sand-covered landscape, the ninja spotted a nearby pile of boulders. Approaching the nearest one in determination, Yumi grabbed her paralyzed arm with her free hand, raised it high, and slammed it against the coarse sandstone as hard as she could. The force of the impact was so great that it not only shattered a portion of the rock, but shocked Yumi's arm out of its paralysis. The ninja cried out in pain as the paralyzing energy forcibly dissipated. Wincing, Yumi held up her arm and flexed it, wriggling her fingers experimentally. Satisfied that her arm had returned to its former functionality, Yumi went over and retrieved her lost fan, surveying the battle as she did so. The ninja narrowed her eyes crossly at the sight of Odd and Aelita devirtualizing a tarantula. Thinking quickly, Yumi silently ordered the tarantula pinning William down to cease fire and redirect its attention to the two guardians.

"Oh, so now I'm worth your attention," William grumbled as he switched around to face Yumi, as the ninja stalked over to him.

"Don't flatter yourself," Yumi drawled, rolling her eyes derisively as she whipped out her fans once more. Unwilling to let the ninja strike first, William charged forward with a shout, Zweihänder held high to deliver a crippling blow. Much to the dopplesoldner's surprise though, Yumi crossed her folded fans and caught the blade, while letting herself be carried to the ground in the process. Once her back hit the sun-beaten sandstone, the ninja extended her legs so that Zweihänder was between them, before flipping William off of her, while simultaneously relieving him of his weapon.

"Are you ever not going to _fall_ for that?" Yumi snorted derisively, sheathing her fans and bending down to heft up Zweihänder. The ninja inspected it for a moment before glancing over to the dopplesoldner. "You people really aren't good with holding onto your weapons." Yumi noted disdainfully, walking over and hefting Zweihänder over her head and above the downed dopplesoldner. "Say hello to your friend for me, will you?" Yumi asked sarcastically before bringing the massive weapon down on William, who raised an arm futilely to provide some protection against the blade. The dopplesoldner disintegrated into a cloud of blue pixels as Zweihänder cleaved him in half. Yumi tossed the massive blade away as it, too, devirtualized.

* * *

When William stumbled out of his scanner, the older boy was confronted with the sight of Hiroki sitting on the edge of his own scanner, head resting on his hands, across from William. As the older boy emerged, Hiroki inclined his head upwards to look at William, a rueful expression on the younger boy's face.

"How'd she get you?" Hiroki asked, vaguely curious. William winced at the phantom feeling of Zweihänder cutting him in half.

"Used my own weapon - I feel like such an amateur," William replied ruefully, leaning against the side of the metallic cylinder.

"Join the club," Hiroki shrugged fatalistically. "You think we should go up to Jeremy and see how they're doing?"

"You can if you want," William told the younger boy, his right hand gripping his stomach woozily. "I think I might stay down here for a while," the older boy grunted as he slid down onto the floor, back propped up against the side of his scanner.

"Man, are we ever _not_ going to be devirtualized by her?" Hiroki pouted irritably. William cast an empathetic glance to the young boy. "I'm getting sick and tired of ending up back here all the time."

"You and me, both, kid," William breathed out as he rested his head back against the cool metal cylinder and closed his eyes, wincing once more at the phantom pain that still lanced throughout his body.

* * *

Having witnessed the fates of Hiroki and William, Ulrich turned to Odd and Aelita.

"Odd, distract Yumi. Aelita, get to the tower," the samurai ordered, leaving no room in his tone for argument. "I'll hold off the tarantulas."

Odd and Aelita nodded before heading off towards their target. Suddenly Aelita cried out as a stray blast from one of the tarantulas hit her, causing the pinkette to plummet from the sky. Ulrich scowled at the offending tarantula.

"Hey, over here!" The samurai shouted as he activated his super-sprint and surged around and past the tarantula, drawing its attention. Once he had come to a stop, Ulrich found himself having to dodge and deflect the energy bolts from both creatures. Meanwhile Odd helped Aelita up before running to confront Yumi, who, having just devirtualized William, was stalking over to join the battle. As Ulrich's katanas twisted and sliced through the air, deflecting every blast that hit them, the samurai was suddenly glad that he had been in a similar situation earlier that day. After all, practice makes perfect.

Elsewhere across the battlefield, Odd charged towards Yumi on all fours. "Miss me, sis?" Odd crowed annoyingly to the ninja as he leaped into the air and let out a volley of laser arrows from each paw, which Yumi promptly deflected with her tessen in a series of rapid movements.

"Not really," the girl drawled blandly as the feline landed on the ground in front of her with a visible poof of dust.

"Now that just hurts," Odd feigned a disconsolate expression. The ninja shrugged indifferently as she sliced her fans forward only to have the hybrid dodge deftly away.

"Too bad," Yumi crooned unapologetically. "Do you need a bowl of milk to go along with your wounded ego?"

"Ow, now that really hurt," Odd cringed at the ninja's caustic comeback, dodging her tessen fans once more in the process. Suddenly, as soon as the glowing white disks had whirred past him, Odd winced for real as suddenly his vision was encompassed in a grey mist. Seemingly outside his body, Odd saw what had just happened. The fans flew past his head as he ducked down wincing. Then, as he stood back up, the fans somehow reversed direction in midair and soared back towards him. With a gasp, Odd was suddenly back in his own body, color filling his vision.

"Well, looks like it really did hurt," Yumi mocked at the feline's abrupt painful wince and gasp. As Odd got to his feet, realization hit him like a tidal wave. Spinning around suddenly, using his instincts and reflexes to their fullest, Odd managed to pluck the ninja's fans out of the air, one in each paw. Yumi stood their for a moment, face blank with surprise, before scowling at Odd, her hands balling up into fists. "How did you do that?" The ninja snarled, drawing a fist back as she did so.

"Oh, I could practically see them coming," Odd fanned himself smugly with one of the tessen, grinning so widely that his eyes were little more than slits. "And that's not accounting for skill."

"Oh, yeah?" Yumi growled angrily. "Well, see _this_ coming!"

Odd opened his eyes wide just in time to see Yumi's fist fill his vision as her closed hand slammed full on into his face. The feline dropped the fans to ground and grabbed his nose in pain.

"Ow, mph nosph," Odd's words were muffled behind his paws as he stumbled backwards. In a fluid movement, Yumi picked up and sheathed both of her fans before whirling around on one leg and propelling the other into Odd's head. Then, using her momentum, the ninja slung her other leg into the air, for a brief moment not even touching the ground, and slamming it as well into Odd's head, sending the feline sprawling backwards onto the sandstone as Yumi landed deftly on her feet.

"A lot more's going to hurt if you do that again," Yumi warned the downed feline irritably. Something out of the corner of her eye suddenly caught the ninja's attention. Something pink. Whirling around, Yumi was just in time to see Aelita nearing the tower. "Oh no you don't," Yumi muttered as she flicked open her right fan and sent it spinning towards the angel's legs.

On the other side of the clearing, the white glint of the tessen fans caught Ulrich's eyes. Stealing himself, the samurai flung his sword towards the tarantula nearest the tower. As expected, the monster leaned out of the way, allowing the samurai's katana to fly into the path of Yumi's tessen. A flash of light burst from the point of contact as the two weapons deflected off each other, and Aelita entered the tower at full sprint, nodding gratefully to Ulrich as she did so.

Focusing on the tarantula before him, Ulrich used the tarantula's pause in its attacks to surge towards the creature - the laser bolts of the other tarantula impacting the spot where the samurai had been standing moments before - and catapulting over it, thrusting his other katana downwards into the mark of Xana borne by the tarantula before yanking his sword out and completing his somersault over the massive creature. The tarantula exploded as he hit the ground.

Wasting not even a second, the samurai promptly whirled around, sending his remaining sword flying through the air and into the head of the last tarantula, which stumbled backwards, rearing its head and letting out a pained roar, before meeting a similar fate as its companion.

"About time you guys left, you were overstaying your visit," Ulrich quipped at the former tarantulas before sweeping his gaze across the landscape. He frowned when all he saw was a dazed Odd dizzily picking himself up from the ground while rubbing his head painfully. "Where's Yumi?" Ulrich demanded as he walked up to the still-fazed feline.

"Huh? What? Yumi?" Odd mumbled incoherently as he stumbled to his feet, Ulrich stepping forward to help the feline keep his balance. "Uh, no idea," Odd responded as he shook his head and glanced around blankly. Ulrich suddenly had a bad feeling as he directed his gaze over to the tower, but the worrying thought was quickly dispelled as he saw Aelita step out of the massive structure. The angel looked around the clearing curiously as she walked over to the two boys.

"Where's Yumi?" Aelita asked puzzled. Ulrich shook his head, clueless.

"No idea, she must have gotten away while Odd was down and I was dealing with the tarantula," Ulrich reasoned. Seconds later he was backed up by Jeremy, who by now had reestablished communications thanks to the unlocked tower.

"I'd say that's a safe bet," Jeremy reported from above, the clack of the keyboard resounding in the background. "I'm not picking her up on any of my scans, and there's no way she would have been able to move fast enough to reach a locked region of the Desert Sector. She must have transferred back to the Mountain Sector."

"So we've lost her again," Ulrich growled, tightening his hands into fists. Aelita gave the boy a sympathetic gesture.

"Look on the bright side," the angel consoled the boy gently. "We've unlocked the Easter Wastes. Six more plateaus more and we'll be able to access the Mountain Sector."

Odd suddenly let out an enormous stretch, followed by a wince and a rubbing of his paws on his head. "Well, I don't know about you guys," the feline announced boisterously. "But I'm looking forward to putting my head on a nice, soft pillow. A _very_ soft pillow."

"Pillow?" Ulrich asked, frowning in confusion. Aelita rested a hand on the samurai's shoulder.

"I'll explain on my way back to the Forest Sector," Aelita smiled gently at the samurai. "Once I've helped materialize our sleepy friend here. You ready, Odd?"

"You betcha!" Odd exclaimed and followed Aelita to the tower, while Ulrich stood stoically waiting for Aelita's return.

* * *

Odd, Jeremy and William sat at their table eating dinner, Aelita having opted to remain on Lyoko to work on some programs in her tower much to Odd's chagrin. Without Aelita's serving, the eccentric blond wouldn't be able to get as many helpings of meatloaf as he would have if the pinkette had come to dinner.

"Unbelievable," Odd exclaimed, sitting down heavily from just being denied a third helping from Rosa. "I'm gonna starve at this rate if Aelita doesn't come back!"

"Odd, you make it sound like Aelita's been gone for weeks," Jeremy said crossly, frankly annoyed at Odd's determination to seemingly eat Kadic Academy out of house and home. "She told us she wasn't going to be here tonight, and this is the first time in quite a while where she _hasn't_ shown up at dinner. So lay off, will you?"

"Sheesh, no need to get so crabby," Odd retorted in an infuriatingly indifferent tone. "You're gonna turn into Ulrich at this rate. Besides, a guy's gotta eat, y'know."

"Odd, I don't know what happens to all that food you shove into that bottomless pit you call a stomach," William put in mildly, the hint of a smirk playing on his lips. "But you've already eaten more than me and Jeremy combined. I don't think you're going to starve anytime soon."

"That's what you think," Odd retorted, waving his fork around in the air. Jeremy and William leaned out of the way with muted sounds of protests as several small crumbs of meatloaf were sent flying off the utensil. "But just think about all that time on Lyoko I spent without a single bite to eat!"

"Odd, you didn't _need_ to eat!" Jeremy exploded irritably, clearly vexed at the former-feline's reasoning - and his seeming disregard for everything the other blond was telling him.

"So? That just meant I didn't starve to death," Odd countered, seeming genuinely confused as to why Jeremy would think that not being able to eat was a reasonable excuse. "But now that I can, I gotta make up for lost time, or else I _will _starve."

"Somehow I don't think that's how food works, Odd," William commented blasély, having pretty much given up on trying to change Odd's mind. Turning to Jeremy, William broached a new topic. "So what are we going to do once we've unlocked all the towers on Lyoko?"

"We won't," Jeremy shook his head in the negative. "Once we unlock the Desert Sector, I should have enough data to make sure the super-scan is operational."

"But what about unlocking the Mountain Sector?" Odd asked curiously, completely forgetting about the previous topic of conversation.

"What point would it serve?" Jeremy shrugged fatalistically. "I'll soon have enough data to fix the super-scan. Xana can't activate locked towers. And what other point would there be in unlocking the Mountain Sector? Yumi's joined Xana. The mountains are her home turf - she'll have the advantage. It would be a needless risk."

"Okay, fine, so we're not unlocking the Mountain Sector," William replied diplomatically before Odd could begin arguing with the intuitive blond. "So what do we do after the super-scan's fixed."

"We look for a way to free Aelita from that virus she has," Jeremy told his friends matter-of-factually. "Once we do that, we can materialize Aelita, Odd, and Ulrich for good, and shut down the supercomputer. Of course," Jeremy added quickly. "We'll have to find a way to get Yumi materialized, whether she likes it or not. I don't plan on leaving her behind. Besides, Ulrich and Aelita would probably kill me if I did. Figuratively speaking, that is," Jeremy corrected hastily, seeing Odd's shocked face. An uncertain look crossed Jeremy's face as he put a hand to his chin. "Well, at least I think so. Ulrich might literally kill me."

"Oh, don't worry," Odd assured his friend. "Ulrich might be a bit stern at times, but he'd never go that far. He'd just get really-really-very-very-really-very angry."

"Thanks, Odd, that's so comforting," Jeremy deadpanned at the eccentric blond, who, upon completely missing the sarcasm, cheerfully gave a wide grin.

"No problem, Einstein," Odd replied jubilantly before eying the remainder of Jeremy's meal hopefully. "You gonna finish that?"

Jeremy looked between Odd and his plate wryly before shoving his plate over with a resigned sigh. "No, not really. Have at it."

"Thanks, Einstein. You're the best," Odd's grin widened before scarfing down the remainder of Jeremy's meal. William and Jeremy shared a bemused look, once again wondering how someone so skinny could eat so much.

* * *

When Ulrich found her, Aelita was sitting on the edge of a small pool of water, her feet dangling into the clear liquid, creating small ripples as they did so.

"Thought you were working," Ulrich announced his presence as he walked over to the tranquil angel. Aelita glanced up as he approached, taking her eyes away from the inverted trees that were reflected in the water.

"Oh, hi, Ulrich," Aelita smiled softly. "I was working, but I decided to take a break. I guess you could say I ran into a little...programmer's block."

"Oh?" Ulrich asked curiously, kneeling down next to Aelita and staring into the waters, his face appearing deep in thought as always. Aelita watched him for a moment before answering.

"I was working on your materialization program, actually," at this Ulrich looked up with both interest and surprise.

"I thought Jeremy was the one who worked on the materialization programs," Ulrich asked, genuinely puzzled.

"He did for me and Odd," Aelita nodded in confirmation. "But I thought you'd feel better if I did yours."

"True," Ulrich replied after a moment's hesitation. He then quickly amended, "Not that I don't trust Jeremy. It's just..."

"You haven't really _met_ him," Aelita filled in the words for him, smiling her understanding. "To you he's just some voice that calls out orders and instructions."

"Couldn't have put it better myself," Ulrich smirked wryly before growing serious once more. "It's just so strange, though. The thought of leaving Lyoko," Ulrich gestured around him to the forest. "Leaving all this. Leaving the desert. It's been my home for as long as I can remember."

"Well, you lived in the ice floes for a while," Aelita pointed out reasonably, and Ulrich gave something between a rueful smile and a grimace.

"Yeah, 'cause _that_ was the best place to send someone who'd live their life in a desert up until then," Ulrich joked ruefully, eliciting a gentle giggle from Aelita.

"I guess it was pretty strange for you, huh?" Aelita asked.

"You have no idea," Ulrich shook his head humorously, adding more seriously. "Is that how it'll be like on...Earth. Is it very different from Lyoko?"

"Very much so," Aelita sighed pleasantly, although in hind sight, it probably wasn't a pleasant prospect for her friend. Nevertheless, that was how Aelita felt about it. "There are so many places and people. So many people. There are deserts, too," Aelita added, hoping to encourage the samurai. "And mountains. And forests. And you don't just see and hear. You can touch and taste and smell. It's incredible."

"Sounds like it," Ulrich commented softly, sighing gently. "I'm just not sure if I want to leave Lyoko behind."

"I guess I know how you feel," Aelita replied uncertainly. For indeed she thought she might, but at the same time she enjoyed living on Earth, being with Jeremy, being in the company of so many others. In the end, she just shook her head softly, "but you can't live in two worlds."

"No," the samurai agreed bitterly, glancing off into the distance where he thought the Mountain Sector might be. "I guess you can't."

_Yumi sat on the edge of the eye, gazing at the carving of the landscape she had made so many periods ago. How she sometimes longed for those times. In a way they were far more simpler. There were just mountains to explore and creatures to avoid or, should it become necessary, fight. She would wonder if anyone else was out there and try to imagine what they were like. Back then Lyoko had been the universe. Now it was just an experiment. The creation of a madman. Built to be cast away at his leisure, the ninja thought resentfully. Treated like a less than real world by all those outside it. And even some within it, the ninja thought bitterly, thinking of Aelita. The angel guardian called Earth the 'real world'. As if Lyoko being made up of data instead of atoms made it any less real. And then their was Odd and Ulrich. Odd was an eccentric being to say the least. No doubt he enjoyed the prospect of leaving Lyoko and exploring a new world. But Ulrich...Yumi knew that Ulrich felt the same as her about Lyoko. She had seen the look in his eyes as he spoke of his desert, and she was sure she had possessed the same look when she had told the samurai of her mountains. Yumi sighed disconsolately. If only things were different, they could have been friends. Instead they were forced to fight each other all because the one named Jeremy wanted to destroy Xana once and for all. Briefly she wondered if all humans were like that boy and the creator of Lyoko - so careless and frivolous with the power they possessed. But she shook her head as the ninja thought of the two that aided her brethren in battle. They were not like Jeremy. The taller - or perhaps she should say older - one was nice enough. A bit boisterous and stubborn perhaps, but the same could be said of Ulrich to an extent. And as for the shorter - younger - one...here Yumi's thoughts paused. There was something strange about the one named Hiroki. Perhaps it was just coincidence and that was how he was to everyone, but somehow the shinobi managed to so easily infuriate her while also managing to endear himself to her at the same time. Yumi sighed wearily. In truth she did not particularly wish to fight any of them - save perhaps Jeremy. But fight them she must if Lyoko were to survive. Shaking herself from these weighty thoughts Yumi got to her feet. It would do no good to think about such things. She had a world to fight for and she could not afford to waste time sitting around and sulking. With that in mind Yumi set out to find a suitable area for practice. Who knew, maybe she would find some kankrelats to test her accuracy and precision on._

**Post Story Author's Note: Well that's it for now. I hope you've all enjoyed. Now for the next few chapters, I won't really be doing previews, as they'll simply be continuing this Yumi arc. So, with that aside, please review and until next time, readers.**


	21. Chapter 21

**Author's Note: Once again a chapter gets tossed in the rough draft bin and is delayed a couple days. Oh, well. It's here now. Thanks for the reviews, by the way, they provided a little extra kick in getting this out. Since there weren't any questions that won't be answered in this chapter, I hope you all enjoy.  
**

**Now on with the story...**

_Yumi emerged from her tower into the plateau she had aptly named the Bowl. As she expected, there was a small gathering of kankrelats outside of the tower. The diminutive creatures were at present meandering aimlessly around the bowl-shaped valley. For once though, Yumi was not particularly annoyed by their presence. After all they would make excellent targets, and the ninja was eager to test out her new weapon. "Alright, you little creeps. Over here!" Yumi shouted out commandingly. The kankrelats all whirled around to face the ninja before slowly making their way over to her. Although whether they were obeying her command or simply had nothing else better to do, Yumi was not completely sure. She decided on the former as the insect-like monsters gathered in a semicircle around her, about a dozen strong. Directing her attention at the foremost kankrelat, Yumi whipped out her fans and ordered simply, "attack me." The creature appeared confused by the request. Yumi grumbled lightly under her breath before focusing her thoughts and imposing her will on the diminutive creatures. Now receiving direct commands the kankrelats began to open fire. Dodging around the volley of energy bolts, Yumi maneuvered her tessen fans so as to absorb and deflect each energy blast. For the most part she directed the bolts towards a predetermined rock but occasionally she would redirect one towards an attacking kankrelat, making sure to hone both her long and short range accuracy and precision. To increase the difficulty of her practice, the ninja had ordered the kankrelats to being moving around while firing, forcing Yumi to stay light on her feet. Once a sufficient number of the little beasts had been whittled down by Yumi's deflections and the occasional throwing of a tessen, the ninja stowed her fans and thrust out her hand, calling up her secondary weapon. In a matter of seconds a long, cylindrical red and black pole had materialized into Yumi's hands. Whirling the bo staff through the air deftly, the ninja managed to block some of the oncoming laser bolts, even though the staff itself was not meant specifically for blocking high speed projectiles. Deciding it was high time to go on the offensive, Yumi cartwheeled forward and slammed the tip of her staff into the nearest kankrelat, shattering the diminutive monster into pixelated shards. The remaining kankrelats soon met a similar fate as Yumi skillfully wielded the bo staff in a flurry of jabs and twirls. Once all the monsters had been destroyed, Yumi allowed herself to relax. And it was at that moment that the ninja had a far-sight vision. In her mind's eye, she could once again see the arrival of the Lyoko Warriors. With a confident smirk, Yumi twirled her bo staff around in her hand before recalling it back into its dematerialized form. "Let's see how well you work in a real fight," the ninja thought out loud. Once the bo staff had completely devirtualized, the ninja focused her mind on the Desert Sector, eager to test her prowess in battle with her new weapon._

"So what's on the menu today, Einstein?" Odd asked cheerfully as he turned around to face Jeremy, walking backwards across the bridge as he did so, Hiroki and William now behind him. Jeremy regarded the eccentric blond superciliously for a moment, thinking on how often the former feline posed his questions in a way that brought food to mind, before answering his friend.

"The Oasis," Jeremy informed the other blond succinctly. "It's the region Ulrich first emerged from his tower."

"Aw, so our good buddy's goin' home today, huh?" Odd quipped comically, spinning back around so as to ensure he did not accidentally walk off the factory's top floor. "Guess he must be pretty excited."

"Can he actually _get_ excited?" Hiroki asked curiously, only half joking. "I don't think I've seen him do anything but scowl."

"Not true," Odd held up a finger matter-of-factually, managing to hold a straight face. "He's smiled once or twice. Kinda. But you're right," Odd let his face crack into a grin. "He really does seem out of character when he's not scowling."

"Better not let him hear that," William chuckled lowly as they entered the factory. "Whether it's true or not."

"Eh, what's he gonna do?" Odd pshawed blithely. "Frown me to death?"

The group shared a laugh before grabbing onto the ropes that hung down from the ceiling and swung down, Jeremy hitting the ground last slightly less gracefully than the others. As Jeremy entered the elevator after Odd, Hiroki, and William, pressing the descent mechanism as he did so, he suddenly remembered something else he had been meaning to tell his friends.

"Oh, Odd, by the way," Jeremy began casually, glancing over to Odd as he did so. "I've been working on a special type of laser arrow for you."

"Oh yeah? What does it do?" Odd asked eagerly before adding somewhat querulously. "I hope it's something really awesome."

"Well, it's a special arrow designed to, temporarily at least, prevent someone from transferring," Jeremy informed the eccentric blond eagerly. "In this case, that someone is Yumi."

"So does that mean Yumi won't be able to teleport away?" William inquired curiously.

"Well, technically there's a difference between _transferring_ and _teleporting_," Jeremy began before giving up and agreeing to the layman terminology. "But, yes, it will prevent Yumi from 'teleporting' away. At least for a while at least."

"Yeah, but what're we supposed to do with her, then?" Odd asked emphatically as the group exited the lift and entered the computer lab. "We can't devirtualize her, and have you forgotten how she wiped the floor with these guys the last two times?"

"As I recall, Odd, she wiped the floor with you, too, last time," Jeremy retorted bluntly, much to Odd's chagrin. Jeremy took a seat at the supercomputer console, as an indignant moue settled across Odd's face.

"Come on, I was holding back," Odd crossed his arms petulantly, attempting to preserve his dignity.

"Well, Ulrich said that Yumi's been holding back too - so I guess it's even," William put in, a bit disgruntled at Odd's previous statement.

"Regardless," Jeremy announced as he activated the connection to Lyoko. "We'll need a way to capture Yumi once her transfer ability is disabled. Fortunately," Jeremy added smugly. "I've got just the thing."

"What is it?" Hiroki asked, standing on the tip of his toes as he attempted to peer over Jeremy's shoulder and onto the monitor. Jeremy raised an eyebrow at the younger boy's attempt, but said nothing of it, simply responding to Hiroki's question.

"I've been working on another type of program that mimics a guardian - a type of monster that's invincible to normal attacks and surrounds and traps its victims in a sort of stasis," Jeremy added quickly, catching Odd and Hiroki's puzzled glances. Out of all of them, only Aelita, William, and Jeremy had encountered guardians, the latter only indirectly. On top of that, Xana rarely utilized the monsters, as they were extremely specialized and energy-consuming. "Anyways," Jeremy continued after his long-winded explanation. "My program will be able to encapsulate Yumi in a similar manner. The only problem is," Jeremy added the catch. "She has to be relatively still or, preferably, immobilized. And that's where you come in, Hiroki," Jeremy finished, swiveling around in his chair to face the younger boy.

"Me? What do you need me for? I mean, apart from my epic skill and awesomeness, of course," Hiroki added smugly, leaning against the wall complacently.

"I see Odd's been rubbing off on you," Jeremy commented mildly before elaborating on his previous statement. "I need you to immobilize Yumi. With your nerve strike ability, you're the best one for the job. Of course," Jeremy added as an afterthought. "Aelita could use her creativity, but that takes some time - not to mention concentration."

"Alright, so you want me to nerve strike Yumi," Hiroki began excitedly before visibly calming down. Frowning, the younger boy added. "You do know that it doesn't paralyze her entire body, right? I mean, I've hit her before and all that went numb was her arm."

"Because you hit her on her arm," Jeremy explained pointedly. "If you hit her closer to her center of mass - say, her chest, you should be able to immobilize her completely."

"Um, does it have to be her chest?" Hiroki shuffled awkwardly. Jeremy frowned in thought, completely oblivious to the reason behind the boy's mortified flush.

"I suppose hitting her in the center of her back would work," Jeremy reasoned slowly. "Why do you ask?"

"Oh, no reason," Hiroki mumbled. "Just...covering all the angles."

"Always a good thing," Jeremy swiveled his chair back around to lean over the keyboard, as Odd and William shared an amused look at Jeremy's lack of acuity. "Besides, we won't be able to capture Yumi today, anyhow."

"Why not?" William raised an eyebrow inquisitively. "We're unlocking one of the towers, aren't we? Yumi's shown up every time since the Northern Wastes."

"Yeah, why don't we just get it over with now?" Odd asked, equal parts eager and confused. Jeremy didn't even bother glancing over at his friends as he explained.

"I don't have your arrow ready just yet, Odd," Jeremy explained patiently. "I still need more information on Yumi's ability to transfer. Fortunately," Jeremy input a few commands into the interface in a resounding manner. "I've modified the scanner to be able to perform a specialized scan of her while she does so. All you guys have to do," Jeremy looked over his shoulders at the three other boys, "is keep Yumi busy until the tower is unlocked. If she flees before then, we'll have to start all over."

"So lemme get this straight," Hiroki inquired for confirmation. "We've gotta get Aelita to the tower and keep Yumi busy until you two geniuses have unlocked it. _Then_ we let Yumi get away, right?"

"Right," Jeremy nodded resolutely. "That just about sums it up."

"Alright, then, what are we waiting for?" William announced leisurely. "Let's get going."

"Agreed," Jeremy nodded succinctly. "I'll contact Aelita and Ulrich and tell them you're coming. You'll be meeting them on the edge of the Floating Plains."

"Whatever you say, Einstein," Odd chimed in cheerfully, following William and Hiroki into the elevator. "I just hope we get all this done before dinner! They have tuna casserole tonight, and I'm starving!"

"Odd, you really are a walking stomach," Jeremy commented after the eccentric blond.

"And you're a walking brain," Odd shot cheerfully back in stride with a wide grin. "See? We compliment each other perfectly."

Jeremy rolled his eyes in exasperation as the lift door closed and the mechanism began to whir and grind as his friends were carried down to the scanner room. Setting all other thoughts aside, Jeremy focused on the mission, fingers flying across the keyboard almost instinctively as the boy readied the virtualization process that would send his friends to Lyoko.

* * *

Aelita and Ulrich stood patiently under the harsh glare of the desert sun, as three forms materialized above and to the right of them. William, Odd, and Hiroki caught themselves skillfully as they hit the sand, sending up virtual puffs of the substance in the process.

"That's two for two," Ulrich commented coolly to Odd, as he and Aelita made their way over. "You're getting slow."

"Hmmph, as if," Odd huffed indignantly, crossing his arms, a petulant scowl on his face. "Einstein was going on and on about the mission. Wouldn't stop talking."

"Did he now?" William raised an eyebrow innocently, sharing a brief, mischievous glance with Hiroki. "I must have been talking to a different Jeremy."

"Yeah, he barely said a peep," Hiroki added in, barely able to keep a smug smirk from crossing his face, but all the same his eyes glimmered with laughter as Odd glared at his two human friends.

"Nice to know you can count on your friends," Odd exclaimed brusquely. "Now are we going to unlock a tower or not?"

"Why, Odd," Aelita smiled sweetly, joining in on the teasing spree that was currently surrounding Odd. "What's the rush? Not in the mood for small talk?"

"How could he be?" Jeremy put in from above. "After all, we're having tuna casserole tonight, and we all know how much Odd hates it when he isn't the first in the food line."

"Ha ha, very funny," Odd drawled sarcastically. "If you guys had a healthy appetite like mine, you wouldn't be laughing."

"Odd, if we had 'healthy' appetites like yours there'd be a food shortage," Jeremy retorted with a snort of amusement, spurring a bout of laughter from the rest of the group - Ulrich included. Odd glared at his friends petulantly.

"Unbelievable," Odd complained crossly. "You guys are about as friendly as a bunch of kankrelats."

"Well, you can't always choose your friends, Odd," Jeremy unapologetically told the eccentric feline. "Anyways, it's about time for you guys to head to the Oasis." Jeremy paused for a moment before adding mirthfully. "After all, we wouldn't want Odd to miss out on his precious casserole."

"No, we wouldn't," Aelita smiled softly at the feline. "He gets really cranky when he misses out on a meal."

"I'll get more than cranky!" Odd affirmed enthusiastically. "So how about you send us our vehicles, Einstein?"

"Already on their way," Jeremy reported succinctly as the three vehicles materialized next to the group. Without further ado, William, Aelita, and Odd mounted their respected vehicles and headed off towards the next plateau with Hiroki and Ulrich keeping pace beside them with their respective abilities.

Due to the small size of the plateau that held the Oasis, the group made good time and were soon standing at a respectable distance from the tower, searching around expectantly.

"You think she's in the tower again?" Odd asked, seeing no trace of Yumi. Ulrich shrugged.

"One way to find out," Ulrich turned to look at Aelita. "Ready, Aelita."

"As I'll ever be," Aelita shrugged calmly, although Ulrich noticed the angel did not take her eyes away from surveying the surrounding landscape.

"Alright, then," Ulrich nodded, turning to face the others. "William, Odd, escort Aelita to the tower. Hiroki, you and I will head to opposite sides of the tower in case any monsters are around."

The series of orders were delivered so smoothly, and with such confidence, that the others, regardless of any misgivings they might have had about the samurai, quickly nodded their affirmation of his plan and moved into position. Ulrich nodded to Hiroki in signal.

"Super-sprint!"

"Super-smoke!"

The two boys quickly made it to their respective sides of the tower, Ulrich on the left near the oasis, Hiroki on the right. Both readied their weapons expectantly only to lower them belatedly as they simply found themselves staring at each other, the back of the tower as unguarded as the front. Eyes wary of the surrounding cliffs, Ulrich signaled to the others as he and Hiroki flanked the tower back towards the entrance. Aelita, William, and Odd were quick to arrive on their vehicles.

"Any sign of trouble?" Aelita asked as she stepped off the overwing. Ulrich frowned as he continued to survey the surroundings.

"No, and that's what worries me," Ulrich told the angel, elaborating. "Didn't you say we needed to fight Yumi if we were to be able to trace her?"

"Well, not exactly trace," Aelita began but, upon seeing the wearied expression on Ulrich's face at the onset of a technical evaluation of the word, hastily amended. "But, yes, we need to keep her busy until the tower is unlocked."

"Well, then we have a problem," Odd announced energetically as he gestured to the surroundings from where he sat on the overboard, having taken a seat on the vibrantly colored vehicle in the absence of a fight. "Cause I don't know about you guys, but I'm not seein' Yumi anywhere."

"And not a monster in sight, too," William frowned, walking towards the others from the overbike. "Do you think she knows our plans?"

"I don't see how," Aelita replied hesitantly. "But even then, why would Xana leave the tower unguarded? After all, we're not trying to capture the monsters. He could easily send those."

"So what do we do? Are we still going to unlock the tower?" Ulrich asked, a tendril of hope making its way through his voice as he did so, and Aelita was reminded that, for the samurai, this was as close to home as anything. Aelita pursed her lips, considering the question.

"Yes," she announced at last, nodding her head slowly, and a glimmer of relief shimmered in Ulrich's eyes. "We need to make contact with Jeremy, anyways. Besides," Aelita added with a hint of meekness. "It's not going to be everyday when we're able to unlock a tower with no resistance."

"So, what about Yumi?" Hiroki asked curiously. "We just gonna wait until next time?"

"Not necessarily," Aelita replied slowly. "Jeremy and I have been working overtime on the unlock programs. The Sand Hills tower protocol is nearly done. It won't take long to complete," Aelita added with a humorous smile directed towards Odd. "And we'll have plenty of time to unlock the Sand Hills before dinner."

"Good," Odd nodded contentedly, assured that he would not be missing a meal. "Because you already said you knew how much I hate missing dinner."

"Quite," Aelita smirked as she turned away from the group and calmly entered the tower. Once the angel was safely inside, Ulrich redirected his attention to the surrounding landscape, the others starting up a conversation on Odd's vast appetite. Their words faded to the back of the samurai's mind as he spotted something strange out of the corner of his eye. Making his way over to where the Oasis overlooked the Tornado Peaks, Ulrich frowned as he tried to discern what was off about the calm landscape. _Calm? _The samurai froze at the realization.

Ulrich had to look twice, but in the end he saw the same thing both times, and was shocked by what he saw. The Tornado Peaks, once blanketed in a never-ending cycle of sandstorms, was now silent and still, with hardly a breeze to even stir up a haze of dust. As he continued to stare in amazement and confusion, Ulrich sensed a presence beside him. Turning to his left, Ulrich saw that William had walked up beside him.

"What's the matter?" William asked, concerned at the samurai's expression. "You look like you've seen a ghost."

"More like a skeleton," Ulrich quipped grimly, pointing towards the plateau below. "Those are the Tornado Peaks."

William frowned as he surveyed the barren, mountainous wasteland before them. "Doesn't look particularly...stormy," the dopplesoldner noted. Laughter rang out behind them as Hiroki and Odd shared a joke.

"Exactly," Ulrich nodded. "There should be sandstorms everywhere. Before I was driven to the Northern Wastes, I'd spend a lot of time studying the storm patterns - and just watching the sandstorms in general. Never was there a calm like this."

"What are you thinking?" William asked the samurai, the pensive tone in his voice indicating that the dopplesoldner had an idea as to the answer.

"The tower's been deactivated," Ulrich replied plainly, even as he surveyed the horizon for the massive structure. "That's the only thing it can be."

"But why would Xana deactivate the tower?" William frowned thoughtfully.

"That's what worries me," Ulrich replied grimly as his eyes finally caught sight of the distant tower. Sure enough, instead of being surrounded in a malevolent red glow, the structure glowed a light, pleasing blue color. "Xana never does anything without a purpose. And anything he does is generally bad for us."

* * *

"Do you think she'll be there?" Jeremy asked Aelita casually as the two continued to make progress towards completing the next unlocking protocol program. Jeremy could hear Aelita hesitate before answering.

"I don't know. To be honest, I'm not sure why she hasn't tried to stop us here," Aelita began uncertainly, before continuing on more strongly. "But I doubt Xana will want us to unlock two towers in a single day."

"I'd imagine he wouldn't want us to unlock any at all," Jeremy commented bleakly, making some minor adjustments to the code in front of him simultaneously. "All this is just so strange," Jeremy paused from his coding for a moment, a pensive expression settling itself across his face. "These activated towers, the locked sectors, they make less and less sense the more information I get from them."

"Well, I'm sure we'll figure it out eventually," Aelita consoled her friend gently. "I've about finished on my end. How are you doing?"

"Ah...I just need to make a few more adjustments," Jeremy leaned forward as he broke free from his thoughts. "Then we'll be ready to unlock the next tower. And with any luck, Yumi will be there waiting for you."

* * *

When Aelita exited the Oasis tower, the angel was greeted to the sight of Ulrich crouched pensively on the edge of the plateau, while William and Hiroki were watching dubiously as Odd attempted to both balance and climb a series of thin, angular rock formations. Surprisingly, despite being so far away, it was Ulrich who first noticed the angel emerging from the tower, the samurai getting up and walking towards her as the others noticed Aelita's arrival as well.

"So, what's the plan, princess," Odd asked cheerfully as the feline leaped down from the spire he had been balancing on. "We going to unlock the next tower?"

"Mmhm," Aelita nodded as she reached the group's cluster of vehicles and mounted the overwing. Turning back to her friends, she announced out loud, "Jeremy and I have finished the unlock protocols. So whenever you boys are ready, we can go."

"Hah, ready is my middle name," Odd quipped enthusiastically, as he somersaulted onto the overboard, a wide grin plastered on his face. Ulrich gave the feline a skeptical glance before retorting dryly.

"Really? Sounds kinda like a dumb name for you to pick," Ulrich kept a straight-face, shrugging nonchalantly as Odd opened his mouth to return the sally, cutting the feline off in quick succession. "But if you say so, let's go."

The samurai then mentally activated his super-sprint and shot off into the distance before Odd could think of a reply. William and Hiroki were quick to follow the speeding warrior, while Aelita steered the overwing near Odd, smiling coyly at the off-balance hybrid.

"You know you really make it too easy," Aelita told the feline, her tone filled with laughter. Odd drooped his shoulders fatalistically.

"Yeah," Odd sighed ruefully, urging the overboard forward as he and Aelita moved to gain ground on their friends. Within a matter of minutes the group had made it deep into the Sand Hills, the tower coming into sight as they neared the center.

"You really weren't kidding when you named it the 'Sand Hills'," William commented as the dopplesoldner surveyed the plateau, rippled with sand dunes ranging from colossal to little more than a gentle rise.

"Dune Plateau would've sounded better," the samurai grunted disparagingly.

"Maybe," William shrugged noncommittally. "But it sounds just fine to me."

"Well, if you guys want an outside opinion, you could always ask them," Odd cheerfully pointed towards the tower looming ahead - and the five krabs standing guard around it along with a familiar figure.

"Open fire!" They heard Yumi order brusquely as they neared, pointing towards the group with one of her tessen. "Focus your attacks on the vehicles!"

The quintet of krabs stalked forwards to stand in rough line, charging their rows of laser cannons in the process. Once fully charge, each krab let out a rapid series of energy bursts. The net effect was a hail of laser fire that quickly blanketed the landscape. Ulrich and Hiroki managed to swerve and duck easily around what sparse blasts headed their way, but the others, being the target of the volleys, had a difficult time avoiding the sheer amount of energy bolts.

"Shield!" Odd yelled at one point, as he found himself unable to dodge a group of oncoming lasers. He crossed his arms and a purple energy barrier formed, absorbing the blasts.

Meanwhile, William had managed to close the gap between himself and one of the krabs. Muttering to himself, "I hope this works," William hopped up onto the dashboard of the overbike, right hand reaching over his shoulder to grab hold of Zweihänder's hilt, and, as the krab neared, pushed off the front of the vehicle as hard as he could. Knowing he had little time, William quickly drew Zweihänder in an overhand arc above his head, angling the massive blade to perpendicular to his body as he slammed Zweihänder into the yielding sand. Still holding onto the sword, William was carried by his momentum over the hilt and onto the desert sand with a thud just as the overbike, mere seconds behind him, soared up Zweihänder like the sword was a glorified ramp before colliding head on with the nearest krab. The vehicle devirtualized explosively as the krab was sent stumbling back before shattering into an array of red shards. Content with his work, William yanked Zweihänder from the ground and proceeded to deflect the laser fire headed his way.

Unfortunately, Aelita had not been having as good a time avoiding the shots fired by the krabs. While William had been performing his maneuver, the angel had swerved the overwing into a barrel roll in order to avoid the oncoming laser blasts. But as she followed the helical path of the maneuver, a stray energy bolt struck the overwing, sending the hovercraft-like vehicle spiraling out of control, flinging Aelita from the craft before sending the vehicle crashing into a nearby sand dune.

"Gotcha, princess!" Odd called out as he swerved the overboard under Aelita, the angel having been briefly stunned by the impact of the laser bolt. Aelita landed with an 'oof' on the back end o

f the overboard, sending a grateful glance up at Odd. "Need a lift?" Odd smirked over his shoulder.

"Well, as long it's not a bother," Aelita quipped cheerfully in response, standing up on the overboard as best she could, holding onto Odd's waist to keep her balance as the feline swerved and looped the overboard to avoid the oncoming laser bolts, Aelita leaning her body side to side with Odd so as to maintain the vehicles smooth performance.

"Not at all, princess," Odd grinned cheekily back at the angel. Suddenly, he leaned rapidly to the side, sending the overboard spinning to the left, Aelita giving a slight cry of surprise as it did so. "Yeeooow!" Odd exclaimed indignantly as the tessen fan he had spotted just barely missed impacting with the overboard. Aelita inclined her head downwards to see Yumi retrieving her fan, the vaguely annoyed expression on the ninja's face giving the angel a small, unexpected feeling of satisfaction.

Ulrich watched as Odd and Aelita swerved away from the tower to avoid being shot out of the sky, as all but one of the krabs had focused their attention on the duo. Hiroki stood some ways off to the side of the samurai, apparently torn between helping William with the krab that had managed to pin the dopplesoldner down with a barrage of laser fire or drawing some of the krabs away from Odd and Aelita. Ulrich had another idea, however.

"Hiroki!" The samurai called to Hiroki before the shinobi could make a decision. The young boy turned expectantly towards Ulrich, and the samurai gestured to where Yumi stood, eyes fixed on Odd and Aelita, watching to make sure they did not get too close to the tower. "How about we take Yumi down a few notches?"

"What do you have in mind?" Hiroki asked, an eager smirk crossing the boy's face at the suggestion. Quickly, Ulrich told the shinobi his plan of attack, and Hiroki nodded eagerly. "Alright, let's do it!"

Ulrich allowed himself an amused smirk, and, without any further conversation, darted off in the direction of the ninja currently fending off her fellow guardians from the tower. As the samurai approached, Yumi saw him in the corner of her eye, turning to face him with a confident smirk.

Ulrich allowed himself a thin smile as the ninja focused her attention on him. "Triangulate!" He shouted forcefully, and at the command the samurai felt a surge of energy as his two natural abilities fused together. In a burst of speed, Ulrich moved faster then the eye could see, and at the same time two forms broke away from him, one sliding behind him, the other slightly ahead of him. In the blink of an eye, Yumi was surrounded on three sides by blurs of motion, the points of the triangular blur guarded by a samurai brandishing twin katanas. As Ulrich and his duplicates raced around the ninja, the samurai could see Yumi's brow knit in concentration, as the ninja tried to discern original from duplicate from after-image.

Before Yumi could do so, however, a new figure joined the fight. Utilizing his super-smoke ability, Hiroki soared over the barrier formed by the sprinting samurai. As the smoke-like form of the shinobi arced through the air, Hiroki reformed mid-flight, kasari-gama ready to strike.

"Yaaah!" Hiroki shouted as he brought his scythe-like weapon down on the ninja. Instead of moving to block the shinobi's strike with her fans, however, Yumi flicked them away and held out her right hand, a black and red shaft materializing seemingly out of nowhere. The bo staff appeared just in time to catch the downward swing of Hiroki's weapon. Gripping the staff with both hands now, Yumi used Hiroki's momentum and the extra leverage provided by her bo staff, flinging the shinobi into one of the afterimages surrounding them.

Hiroki was knocked away from the fight as one of Ulrich's clones slammed into the boy at full force, sending both of them flying, the duplicate devirtualizing at the force of the impact. With the formation broken, Ulrich and his remaining duplicate ground to a halt, the samurai wasting no time in signaling for his clone to attack Yumi. Together, the two samurai lunged at Yumi, only to be blocked and thrust away by the deftly-wielded bo staff in the ninja's hands.

As the two samurai reengaged Yumi, Odd and Aelita swerved the overboard back around and towards the three krabs currently firing at them. "Laser arrow!" Odd called out as he aimed his paw at the closest krab. The projectile flew straight and true, guided by the feline's skilled aim, hitting the krab directly in the center of its symbol.

Stealing herself as the krab exploded, Aelita lifted one hand from Odd's side, calling out, "Energy field!" before flinging the orb of energy into the leftmost krab.

"Nice shot, princess," Odd applauded the pinkette cheerfully, Aelita returning his praise with wide smile. Odd angled the overboard back down towards the remaining krab.

"Odd, what are you doing?" Aelita asked confused as the hybrid weaved the overboard around the energy bolts, the entire time maintaining a straight heading towards the krab.

"You'll see!" Odd grinned over his shoulder before adding hastily, "Better have your wings ready, princess!"

Aelita's voice was cut of by a shrill cry of surprise before she could ask the obvious question, as Odd suddenly crouched on the front of the overboard and leaped forwards, the force of his legs against the board sending Aelita catapulting through the air over the krab, which craned back on its legs to follow her, its distraction costing it as Odd landed on its shell, skidding down the thick carapace and bounding off the monster, allowing the krab to be hit full force by the spinning overboard.

Aelita managed to activate her wings and, with a reassuring wave to Odd, plunged into the tower. The feline turned away as the angel entered the tower, directing his attention to the young shinobi that was groggily getting his feet - or at least trying to. Racing over to his friend, Odd helped Hiroki to his feet, although the boy was a bit unsteady.

"Ulrichs sure fast runs," Hiroki mumbled, still slightly dazed from the high-speed impact with the samurai's clone. The shinobi shook his head blearily to clear it. "What's goin' on?"

"William's pinned down by a krab, Ulrich is facing off with Yumi, and Aelita's in the tower," Odd rapidly shot out as he surveyed their surroundings. Turning back to Hiroki, Odd asked urgently. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," Hiroki nodded shakily, rubbing his head with a hand. "Just got the wind knocked out of me," the shinobi looked around ruefully. "And just about everything else. I don't see my kasari-gama."

"It must've been devirtualized," Odd reasoned quickly. "Look, you help out William, and I'll go give Yumi a hand." Hiroki nodded his understanding, racing off towards William as Odd made his way towards the fierce battle between Yumi and Ulrich, which had begun to turn against the samurai, the ninja having managed a fortuitous strike on the warrior's remaining clone, devirtualizing the duplicate.

"Ready to give up?" Yumi smirked cheerfully as she swung her bo staff forward, locking it with Ulrich's twin katana.

"I don't give up," Ulrich growled biliously, shoving the ninja away before dishing out a dizzying array of overhand blows, all of which were blocked just in the nick of time by Yumi's bo staff. The ninja's lips quirked in a slight smile at the samurai's words.

"Good, 'cause neither do I," Yumi replied with a flurry of jabs and wacks that resounded off of the samurai's swords.

Finding themselves, for the moment, evenly matched, the two combatants leaped away from each other to better take stock of their opponent. And at that moment, another voice entered the verbal fray.

"Hey, don't you know it's rude not to invite people to a party?" Odd quipped boisterously, firing a volley of laser arrows from his paws as he raced over to add Ulrich. Yumi casually deflected the arrows with her bo staff, almost disdainfully. Ulrich raised a eyebrow at this - apparently Yumi had not only practiced using the weapon in its short range capacity.

"Of course," Yumi said dryly, making a face as the feline came to a skidding halt out of range of the ninja's bo staff, paws balled up into fists and vaguely held before him in a belligerent stance. "I suppose a family reunion wouldn't be complete without the annoying, little brother."

"Hey! Who're you calling annoying and little?" Odd protested petulantly. Yumi smirked as Odd sounded for all the world exactly like her description of the feline.

"Well, I would've thought that be obvious," Yumi replied casually, but her calm persona belied the dangerous glint in her eyes.

"Odd, watch out!" Ulrich shouted in warning, too late as Yumi darted forward, lancing out with her bo staff and jabbing Odd squarely in the stomach and upending the staff, slamming into Odd's chin and sending the hybrid stumbling back with a indignant outburst of pain. But before the ninja could capitalize on the feline's brief lack of acuity, Ulrich surged forwards, striking with both of his katana parallel to each other.

"Taken up role of big brother, I see," Yumi commented casually, grunting as the two blades collided with her bo staff. Not for the first time Ulrich marveled at the weapons sturdiness. "Guess this klutz here probably needs one."

"Who are you calling a klutz?" Odd snarled angrily, the feline's usually mild temper being drawn short by the constant abuse, both physical and vocal, showered on him by the ninja. As the hybrid pounced at Yumi again, the ninja jerking her bo staff away from Ulrich's katana and spinning in a full circle to redirect Odd into a nearby dune and return the weapon to a position suitable for defense. Ulrich began to have a distinct impression of deja vu. Either Odd was as gluttonous for punishment as he apparently was for food or compared to Yumi he was a klutz and the ninja simply took too much pleasure in causing the feline immense amounts of pain. Granted, the latter was something Ulrich could sympathize with at times.

As the two guardians began to circle each other warily once more, Hiroki, after dizzily stumbling around for a few moments - his head suddenly spinning with the sudden movement of running, reached where William was still pinned down by the remaining krab. Despite the dopplesoldner's proficiency with dealing with monsters, the older boy had not been able to close the gap between himself and the large creature - in part due to the lack of cover. In the Forest and Ice Sector there were usually always some sort of cover, somewhere. Not so in the rolling dunes of the Sand Hills. As it stood, William was doing a superb job at remaining in the battle, managing to wield Zweihänder with a grace that defied its massive size as he deflected the krab's volley.

Painfully aware of his lack of weapons - and feeling none to well to use his super-smoke, Hiroki quickly glanced around and took in his surroundings. His clever eyes soon spotted a haphazardly arranged outcropping of rocks a short distance behind the krab. Sizing them up quickly, Hiroki made his way hastily, and stealthily, behind the krab, focused as the monster was on William. Stopping a few meters from the outcrop, Hiroki set his right foot back before pushing forward and sprinting towards the diminutive cliff. Leaping up and twisting so as to be perpendicular to the rock wall, Hiroki's feet hit the surface and the shinobi took off along the sandstone, maintaining his speed to prevent falling from the rock. Nearing the end of the rock edge, Hiroki paused for a brief instant, crouching down against the warm sandstone, before launching himself away from the stone wall and towards the occupied krab. Barely clearing the monster's crimson carapace, Hiroki drew back a fist and slammed his closed hand into the krab's symbol, somersaulting over the monster and landing on the sand in front of it.

The krab suddenly stiffened as a surface-thin veil of yellow energy encompassed the monster, paralyzing the massive creature. Seizing the opportunity, William rushed forward with Zweihänder held high and cleaved the defenseless monster down the middle, shattering the creature into an array of crimson shards.

"Thanks, Hiroki," William nodded gratuitously to the young shinobi, who currently had his hands resting on his knees, a wave of nausea temporarily overpowering him. "You okay, kid?"

"Man, this must be how Odd feels whenever he goes to Carthage," Hiroki muttered under his breath before straightening up and shaking his head lightly. "No. I'm fine, William. One of Ulrich's clones slammed into me full speed, and I'm still feeling a bit...dizzy."

"I'd imagine," William raised an eyebrow at the shinobi's story. Turning his head towards the battle that was currently being fought between Ulrich and Yumi, the dopplesoldner pointed towards the duo. "Speaking of Ulrich, I think we'd better help him out with Yumi." William glanced sideways at Hiroki, pausing in his footsteps. "That is, if you're up to it."

"Yeah, I'm good," Hiroki countered stoically, racing off towards the battle. "Let's do it."

William took off after Hiroki. As the two wanderers neared where Ulrich and Yumi were exchanging a furious tornado of strikes and blows, no banter, lighthearted or otherwise, present, so focused were the two combatants on the battle at hand. Out of the corner of his eye, William saw Odd extricating himself from a nearby sand dune. The feline looked incredibly vexed for one of his temperament, his tail lashing vigorously in irritation. Briefly, William wondered why Odd seemed so annoyed. Then Yumi realized that she was now vastly outnumbered and soon to be surrounded, as William and Hiroki flanked the ninja, with Odd already behind her.

The ninja was quick to shove Ulrich away, the two guardians having their weapons locked together. Before any of them could react, Yumi wordlessly folded her arms over her chest and devirtualized. The brief moment of shocked silence afterwards was broken by an unexpected voice.

"Well," Jeremy announced suddenly. "That was a close one."

* * *

William, Odd, Jeremy, and Aelita sat amiably at their table in the cafeteria, content in the knowledge that Jeremy had managed to retrieve the necessary data before Yumi had transferred away - although it had been close. If Yumi had not been as focused on her fight with Ulrich as she had, the ninja could have easily escaped and the gang would have been left to try again. But as it had turned out, Yumi had escaped a few seconds too late, and the group was in a jovial mood as they ate dinner and discussed the mission.

"Well, I'd say that went pretty smoothly," Aelita commented, sneaking some of her tuna casserole onto Odd's plate while Rosa's attention was diverted. Odd glanced up indignantly from contentedly feasting on the extra servings to muffle out what almost sounded like words.

"Odd, no one can understand you when you've got a mouth full of food," Aelita reprimanded the eccentric blond for what felt like the hundredth time. This time, Odd took the time to chew and swallow before repeating himself.

"I said, that's what you think!" Odd exclaimed once his mouth was more or less clear of food. "You weren't the one getting whacked around by Yumi like a pinata with that overgrown pencil of hers!"

"Actually, Odd, it's a bo staff," Jeremy interjected stolidly. Odd gave a dismissive gesture to the other blond.

"Whatever. Either way, it hurt," Odd glowered irritably at the memory. Aelita and William shared an amused glance at the eccentric blond's pent up frustration.

"Well, maybe you should have laid off practically running into it, then," William huffed in amusement. Odd shot a petulant glare towards the older boy.

"Well at least I wasn't pinned down by a krab!" Odd nearly shouted derisively. William shrugged, unfazed by the former-feline's growing state of vexation. Aelita, sitting next to Jeremy, cast an eye around to see if anyone had noticed Odd's outburst. Ruefully the spectral girl noted that Rosa had one eye on the group, obviously making sure Aelita wasn't passing away her food.

"So? At least I didn't get hit," William returned Odd's jibe. "Which I _heard_ you got a lot of."

"Yeah, well, you wouldn't have done so well yourself," Odd muttered disconsolately, crossing his arms huffily. "She devirtualized you the last two times pretty quick."

William conceded to Odd's point with a noncommittal shrug, and the eccentric blond, content that he'd won - or at least settled, the argument turned back to eating his food with gusto - although perhaps a bit more roughly than before. Meanwhile, Aelita reluctantly took a few bites of her meal, the food disintegrating once it touch the inner workings of her specter's energy matrix. Rosa had been watching her critically and now, content that the slim pinkette seemed to be eating, directed her attention elsewhere. Quickly, Aelita spooned over to Odd's plate as much food as possible. The eccentric blond grunted gratefully, too busy shoveling food into his mouth to make up for time lost during the argument to make a proper reply. Jeremy stared at Odd with a mixture of disgust and awe.

"You know, Odd, sometimes I really wonder how you're going to survive without Aelita's helping," Jeremy shook his head wryly. Odd glanced up at the other blond, a surprisingly somber look in the former-feline's eyes.

"I'll probably starve to death," Odd moaned dramatically, mouth partially full of food. "Rosa's already banned me from getting thirds."

"I still don't know how you can eat so much," Aelita interjected, shaking her head in wondrous confusion. "I never even ate _close_ to this much when I was on Earth." The pinkette paused as another thought came to her mind, a worried look briefly crossing her face. "I wonder if Ulrich'll eat this much."

"I wouldn't worry about it," William reassured the pinkette casually. "Ulrich doesn't strike me as the kind of guy to eat any more than necessary." William then remembered something he had been meaning to talk to Jeremy and Aelita about. "Speaking of Ulrich," William altered course suddenly. "We found something kind of strange about the Tornado Peaks - you know, the plateau that's supposed to be covered in sandstorms."

"Yeah, what about it?" Jeremy frowned, not sure what his older friend was getting at. Aelita gestured for William to continue. Odd was too busy scarfing down his food to really care.

"Well...there aren't any storms," William broke the news bluntly. Aelita and Jeremy stared at the boy for a moment in surprise. William elaborated in quick fashion, "Ulrich was the one who noticed it first. We think the tower in that region was deactivated."

"Strange, the data I got from the towers suggested Xana isn't able to deactivate the towers directly," Jeremy mused almost to himself. Aelita glanced sideways at her best friend before adding her own two cents.

"And why would Xana want to deactivate the towers anyways?" Aelita asked, clearly puzzled. William just shook his head, equally clueless.

"I don't know. And neither does Ulrich," William added noncommittally. The older boy then ventured out on a limb after a moment's pause. "Maybe Xana used Yumi to deactivate the tower. After all, we saw her come out of the Eastern Wastes tower."

"True, but that doesn't really mean anything," Jeremy shook his head haplessly. "After all, anyone can go in and out of a tower provided it isn't activated."

"I suppose so," William conceded, leaning backwards in his chair, a light frown settling on his face.

"Still, what bothers me is why," Jeremy continued, gesturing through air with his hands vaguely. "Why did Xana deactivate that tower? The activated towers were the cause of the sector-wide storms both Odd and Ulrich faced when a tower activated on Lyoko. So why would Xana just deactivate it?"

Aelita and William shared a glance. As Jeremy had been speaking, it had seemed like the boy was talking more and more to himself. It didn't really matter, of course, neither one knew the answer to their friend's question.

Odd, meanwhile, was eying the remnants of Jeremy's meal hopefully, unconcerned by problems he knew were best left to others to solve.

_Yumi weaved her way gracefully down the side of the small cliff that overlooked the desert's sole oasis. Jumping down the last couple meters or so, Yumi landed lightly on her feet, barely making a sound. As she walked past the tranquil pool of clear blue water, the ninja spotted a figure crouched on the edge of the plateau. It was the unmistakable yellow and black form of Ulrich. Yumi began to walk confidently over to the samurai, who remained engrossed in the landscape before him, but paused uncertainly half way. The ninja doubted she would be the first person Ulrich would want to see. So instead of walking further, Yumi decided it was wisest to make he presence known first. "Don't stare too hard, you might strain your eyes," Yumi called out breezily to the samurai. In the blink of an eye Ulrich had sprung to his feet, spun around, and drawn his katana. It seemed that remaining at a safe distance had been a good idea. "Yumi!" Ulrich's eyes widened in surprise before narrowing in suspicion. "What are you doing here?" The samurai demanded. Yumi narrowed the gap between them as she spoke, pausing a couple meters away from Ulrich. "You seem a bit tense," Yumi noted blasély. "I'm not here to fight you," the ninja reassured the samurai, holding out her hands, palms up in a conciliatory gesture. Ulrich hesitated for a few moments before lowering his twin katana, although Yumi noticed the samurai did not sheathe them. "So what are you doing here?" Ulrich asked, in a slightly less choleric tone. Yumi gave a small, imperceptible sigh. I guess that's about as relaxed as he's going to get, the girl thought ruefully. "I suppose I just wanted to talk," Yumi said out loud, shrugging noncommittally. The suspicion still remained on the samurai's face. Yumi sighed more perceptibly this time. "Don't you ever relax?" Yumi asked crossly, adding with a sweep of her arm to indicate their surroundings. "Seriously, what do you think I could possibly be here to do, huh?" Ulrich contemplated the question for a few seconds, shrugging as he said simply, "To gather information. Loose tongues are good at providing that." For whatever reason, Yumi felt the samurai had a particular person in mind when he said that. The ninja glowered at the other guardian. "Well, we don't have to worry about that now, do we?" She retorted pointedly. Ulrich shrugged again, noncommittally. The corners of Yum's mouth turned down in annoyance. "Oh, come on! Do you have something against talking or what?" Another shrug. "I'm almost tempted to start fighting you. You're much more talkative when you're fighting," Yumi scowled irritably and crossed her arms. Ulrich seemed to consider it for a moment, and Yumi was almost sure the introspective samurai would shrug again, but instead he spoke. "Alright, what do you want to talk about?" Now that she had managed to get Ulrich into some semblance of a conversation, the ninja realized she did not really know what to talk about. And so she shrugged, the irony of the movement painfully aware to her. "Nothing much in particular. Though I am curious about that short new friend of yours," Yumi paused for a moment, searching for the diminutive shinobi's name. "Hiroki, isn't it?" Ulrich nodded his head slowly. "What about him?" Yumi let a slight smile tug at the edges of her lips as she prompted the samurai. "Well, where'd he spring up from? He doesn't seem like the kind of person Jeremy would be too fond of." Ulrich huffed ruefully, finally sheathing his swords as he responded. "Odd talked too much and Hiroki found out about Lyoko. Fortunately, Hiroki's got a better head on his shoulder than Odd - although he talks about as much." Ulrich said the last part with a faint smirk. Yumi apprised the samurai with an amused look. "You really don't like talking, do you?" Ulrich shrugged again, apparently a common gesture for the samurai. "Not when it's pointless. At least Hiroki manages that some of the time." A darker look crossed Ulrich's face as he added in response to "Although I'm not sure what makes you think you know who Jeremy would be fond of." Yumi let her quiet smile drop from her face. "A little defensive, aren't we? I thought you and Jeremy didn't get along well?" Yumi huffed derisively. Ulrich remained silent for some time, giving Yumi a measured look. Finally, out of the blue, the samurai said,"You weren't at the Oasis today. You were in the Sand Hills. Why?" __Yumi raised an eyebrow at the unexpected question, noting that Ulrich had neglected to answer hers. The ninja let the matter slide and replied with a rolling shrug, "You said the Oasis was your home. I didn't want to make you have to fight over it." Ulrich regard her silently for a moment. "Is that the truth?" The samurai asked her, his tone giving no hint to his thoughts. "Of course it is," Yumi told him, taken aback by the samurai's mistrust. "I'm not heartless, you know." Yumi shrugged wryly and then amended, "well, technically I am - but you know what I mean. Look, I wouldn't lie to you," Yumi cut her hand through the air to make her point. Ulrich raised a weary eyebrow. "I've heard something like that before," the samurai responded ruefully. Yumi winced slightly. "I know Xana tried to deceive you. That was its mistake. But I'm not Xana." Yumi told Ulrich imploringly. The samurai regarded the ninja coolly. "I know. That's why you're not devirtualized." Yumi felt a burst of irritation. "Why are you so against Xana?" She asked crossly. The samurai regarded her stoically. "Why are you so against Jeremy?" Ulrich returned in stride. Yumi narrowed her eyes. "I am against Jeremy because he has no right to destroy our world! Our home!" Yumi hissed angrily. "I am against Jeremy because he's so obsessed with destroying Xana that he'll destroy anything or anyone that gets in his way." At this Ulrich stepped forward menacingly. "Enough," the samurai growled. "I may not have met Jeremy yet, and I may not completely trust him. But I do know one thing. The others - Aelita, Odd, William, Hiroki - they trust him, and I them." Yumi returned the samurai's angry glare. "And what's that supposed to mean?" Yumi retorted. "Aelita's never known a time without Jeremy, Odd's too enraptured in exploring new places to give a second thought as to how, and why wouldn't William and Hiroki trust him?" Yumi paused for a tense moment, her hands working there way in and out of fists, her jaw clenching in regret. She had not meant to start an argument with the samurai. Ulrich seemed to sense this. Nodding curtly he said, "I think we've talked enough." Yumi sighed softly and shook her head. "This isn't exactly how I wanted things to turn out." Again Ulrich nodded, this time in understanding. "Things rarely turn out the way we want," the samurai said softly, turning around to face the Tornado Peaks once more. Sensing their conversation was well and truly over, Yumi moved to leave. Before she did so, she called out to the samurai over her shoulder. "Just, please, be careful, Ulrich. I wouldn't want to see something happened to you. Or the others. So please, be careful." With that Yumi quickly spun around and headed away from the introspective samurai. But if she had lingered a little longer, the ninja would have heard Ulrich mutter the word, "always."  
_

**Post Story Author's Note: Well, for whatever reason, this chapter was a doozy to right. First the fight portion gave me trouble (had to rewrite that more than once) and then Yumi's conversation with Ulrich. But I finally got them to where I was content enough to post this chapter. So, what are your thoughts on this chapter? Did I do good, okay, not so good? In short, please review, I welcome all manner of criticism and critique (redundant denotation there, but the connotations vary slightly). So until next time, readers, when the gang will attempt to spring Jeremy's trap for Yumi.  
**


	22. Chapter 22

**Author's Note: Oh dear, where to begin? I can hardly believe it's been nearly half a year. Half a year! I sincerely apologize for taking so long to update. I wish I could say that the reason its been so long since the last chapter was that school's been keeping me busy, but that wouldn't be entirely accurate. Don't get me wrong, my classes completely blindsided me with how busy they've kept me this year, but I could have easily worked on this during Winter Break. Enough of my babbling, though. Thanks for the reviews and thanks for your patience. And a tip of my hat (if I were wearing one) to this last guest review essentially telling me to get my butt moving. Well, it worked. So I hope this was worth the wait.  
**

**Now on with the story...**

_Wisps of mist drifted through the grey peaks that surrounded the Bowl, weaving in and out of the sparse trees that populated the barren mountains as if propelled by some unfelt breeze. On the edge of the massive bowl-like valley stood a lone figure, clad in crimson and black, gazing down into the dale. Fixing her eyes upon a particular large boulder that lay embedded in the valley's floor, the ninja slowly lifted her arms and closed her eyes in concentration as she focused on the massive rock and cleared her thoughts. A faint aura of white light surrounded Yumi as the boulder far below began to tremble and crack, slowly being torn away from the ground beneath. Her face creased in concentration, a slight scowl of determination twisting her lips as she struggled to keep her mind clear. Slowly the rock was lifted into the air and floated higher and higher, it too covered in an aura of white light. A light that flickered as a renegade thought wormed its way through Yumi's mind. She struggled to maintain her hold on the boulder to no avail. The aura around both the rock and Yumi faded as the former plummeted to the grey stone below. With a cry half of anger and half of anguish, Yumi fell to her knees, holding her head in the palm of her hands as pain shot through it from her mental effort. Angrily, the ninja turned her attention to the wayward thought that had distracted her. It had been some time since Yumi had had her conversation with Ulrich on the edge of the Oasis. Yet it was clear, even to her then, that he still hadn't trusted her. Although, Yumi sometimes wondered if the reclusive samurai really trusted anyone. Yet, nonetheless, it bothered her. And despite the defense of his allies, the ninja knew she had struck a chord with him. Then there was that new wanderer - Hiroki, Ulrich had said his name was. He had proven to be a regular nuisance. Not to mention there was something strange about him as well, but Yumi couldn't quite put her finger on it. She shook her head again to clear it. Running through a list of everyone she knew and how they fit into all of this madness was certainly not going to help her maintain her focus. Already on her knees, Yumi assumed a seiza posture and concentrated on clearing her thoughts away and focusing her mind. As she breathed in and out to create a steady rhythm, she felt the bothersome thoughts that had plagued her for spans slide through her mind. Yumi had learned long ago that the key to clearing her mind was not to suppress her thoughts but to let them flow - for by letting them flow she gave them no hold and they slipped away. Mind now calm and focused, the ninja pushed herself to her feet and gazed down into the Bowl once more, and, raising her hands outstretched, focused on the fallen boulder. Her aura once more encompassed her and the object of her focus, as, slowly but surely, the massive rock levitated up through the air. And as it rose higher and higher, Yumi slowly began lowering one of her arms. By the time only one hand was outstretched, the slab of grey stone was level with the ninja, seeming almost like another one of the small floating megaliths that dotted her mountains. Her eyes were slits of concentration as she forced her mind to hold the boulder in midair. Since the time when she had first discovered her powers, Yumi had come a long way. She could guide her tessen fans with uncanny accuracy, levitate herself, and, of course, lift massive objects with concentration. But there was one feat that the ninja had not yet tried. Exhaling to deepen her focus, Yumi slowly closed her hand into a fist, and as she did so, cracks began to form on the surface of the boulder until, finally, the rock shattered under the force of Yumi's mind. The ninja tried to keep the now numerous shards of rock airborne, but the strain was too great, and once more the white aura of light faded and the fragments of rock - along with Yumi - fell to the ground. 'Not bad for a first try,' Yumi thought to herself pragmatically, gritting her teeth as pain lanced through her head. Delicately, Yumi pushed herself off the ground, careful not to move too fast so as to avoid dizziness, and once more assumed a meditative posture. After all, practice makes perfect._

* * *

The smell of ozone filled the air as a stream of electricity surged between Jeremy and Odd, just barely missing the two boys. The source of the lightning bolt was a polymorphic clone that was presently in the form of the principal, Mr. Delmas. The imposter had called the two boys out of class, and for a moment Jeremy had been worried that Odd's cover as Aelita's "cousin" had been blown. After all, he had already forged Aelita's documents, and a forgery of a forgery rarely went well.

But as it turned out, things were much worse, and now Jeremy found himself on the run with Odd through Kadic's forest with an enraged polymorph chasing them. Add to that the fact that William was currently tied up with Jim and the real Delmas concerning the rec room, and Jeremy was quite sure this wasn't one of his better days.

Suddenly the blond was pulled to the side by Odd, letting out a small cry of surprise in the process as he was dragged behind a tree. He was about to ask Odd what the big idea was when he realized the answer moments later. Keeping his breathing as steady as he could and pressing himself up against the tree with Odd, Jeremy waited tensely as the polymorphic clone paused in the clearing they had just been in before moving on, mistaking the rustlings of some forest animal for their movements.

When at last their pursuer was out of hearing distance, Jeremy let out a massive sigh of relief and exhaustion as he slumped against the trunk of their tree.

"Well, that was close," Odd gulped in air, almost as out of breath as Jeremy was. "What now, Einstein?"

Jeremy glanced out from behind the tree.

"It won't be long before that spectre realizes he's been sent on a wild goose chase - or whatever that was," Jeremy replied, slumping back down against the tree. "And unfortunately, our only ways of getting to the factory are right past him."

"So we need a distraction," Odd reasoned cheerfully. Jeremy gave the other blond a patronizing look.

"And how are we going to do that?" Jeremy asked querulously, vaguely gesturing to the forest around them. "William's stuck in the rec room. Aelita's probably already out of her tower by now. And Hiroki," Jeremy frowned for a moment. "Where is Hiroki, anyways?"

"Oh, uh, he's on Lyoko," Odd rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. Catching Jeremy's incredulous, and slightly irritated look, Odd felt compelled to explain. "I told him how to use the transfer program, remember? He said he wanted to do some training or something with Ulrich."

"Whatever," Jeremy groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose irritably. "At least he's on Lyoko, so Aelita will have him and Ulrich for an escort. But until we get to the factory, they'll have to track down the activated tower the old fashioned way."

"Right, well then," Odd puffed up his chest confidently. "We'll just have to get past the spectre the old fashioned way, too. Cheer up, Einstein," Odd consoled his friend amiably as they got to their feet. "Things could be worse. I mean, at least we don't have to worry about them running into Yumi."

Jeremy paused for a moment. "True," he nodded thoughtfully. "With Yumi contained by the proto-guardian, all they'll have to deal with is Xana's monsters."

"So relax," Odd grinned gleefully. "It'll be a piece of cake."

* * *

Ulrich slammed into one of the many sandstone boulders on the edge of the Oasis, propelled by a powerful kick. The samurai sprung back to his feet and drew his swords, ready to confront his attacker, but a warning shout from Hiroki drew his attention to an approaching swarm of hornets. Triggering his super-sprint, Ulrich ran to Hiroki's position, leaping over the rock the shinobi was taking cover behind and joining him.

"Great, now we have to deal with a swarm of hornets," Ulrich grumbled irritably. "Can you take care of them?"

"Yeah, sure, I can take them. But what about you?" Hiroki asked uncertainly, giving his friend a worried look. "I'll be fine if I get devirtualized, but if you-"

"I'm not going to get devirtualized," Ulrich shot back. "She's never tried to kill me."

"Really? 'Cause it seemed like she just did," Hiroki replied dubiously. Ulrich scowled in frustration.

"Look just take care of the hornets and I'll-"

A resounding crack tore through the air as the boulder the two warriors had taking shelter behind was ripped from the ground in an aura of white light and shattered into pebble-sized chunks of sandstone.

"Just go and take care of the hornets," Ulrich shouted forcefully as he and Hiroki leapt away from the small explosion, his voice leaving no room for argument. "Then you go and find Aelita. Get her to the activated tower. There must be one. Xana wouldn't have done all this without occupying the others first."

"But Ulrich," Hiroki began to protest. Ulrich eyes snapped over to the young shinobi for a split second.

"Just do what I say!" He hissed ferociously. "Now GO!"

Hiroki nodded reluctantly, clearly beside himself but in full knowledge that arguing would be useless. And so, without another word, the shinobi drew his kasari-gama and surged towards the oncoming hornets in a cloud of black smoke.

No sooner had he done so than did Ulrich turn his gaze back to his adversary, katanas crossed as he prepared himself for the inevitable. And now that Hiroki was gone and he was alone, he allowed the flicker of fear that had been nagging at him briefly flutter through his mind.

For making her way slowly towards him, each step deliberate and menacing, was Yumi, tessen fans gripped tightly in each hand. But this was not the Yumi he had known. Her eyes were cold and dark, even though they burned with something more than anger. Gone was the wry humor that usually gleamed in her eyes.

Grim with determination, Ulrich readied himself for what he was sure would be the fight of his life.

* * *

Aelita flew through the forest, weaving in and out of the trees as she followed the pulsations that coursed through the Forest Sector.

At least the activated tower was nearby. Ever since they had unlocked the first tower in the Ice Sector, Xana had more often than not made use of one of those. Today, however, the demonic AI seemed to be giving Aelita a break.

Or he would have been, if the sharp clanging march of three krabs hadn't met Aelita's keen ears. Pulling up short, Aelita hovered in the air as she looked about for the ocean-inspired monsters.

She did not have long to look. For no sooner had she stopped in her flight than did a volley of laser bolts fly past her, just barely missing the young angel. With a startled cry and a powerful flap of her wings, the pinkette surged upwards into the sky, spinning about so as to find the source of the attack.

Aelita quickly spotted the three krabs marching down a side path and into the clearing where she had been moments before. Unfortunately, krabs were a lot more intelligent than bloks or kankrelats (not to say that was a high bar), so of course the monstrous creatures knew exactly where to look to find her.

Tilting their bodies upwards, the krabs began to release volley after volley at Aelita. The virtual angel weaved this way and that to avoid the deadly laser fire, and did so with ease, but with each blast, the pinkette's patience wore thinner and thinner.

She didn't have time for this. Her friends were in danger, and she had a tower to deactivate. Focusing her mind, Aelita held forward the palm of her right hand.

"Energy field!" She intoned, a glowing, pink matrix of energy forming in her hands. Drawing back her arm, Aelita flung it down at the nearest krab. However, the monster simply stepped to the side much to the frustration of Aelita. Two more energy fields followed the first with similar results. Her patience gone, it was now her temper that was wearing thin.

Then she realized something. The krabs weren't trying to hit her per se. As she followed the bolts of energy with her eyes, even as she dodged them, Aelita realized that they were pulling the same trick as a trio of megatanks had weeks before. Instead of hemming in a tower, though, these krabs were hemming her in, preventing her from leaving.

With that realization, Aelita's resolve only grew. Now she absolutely had to get to the tower.

She was pondering ways to do this when a movement of smoke caught in the corner of her eye. The hint of a smirk touched her lips as she turned her head to face the onrushing cloud of shadow.

The tendril of smoke surged into the air before coalescing into the familiar form of Hiroki. With a cry, the young shinobi plunged his kasari-gama into the shell of the nearest krab. The unsuspecting creature shattered as Hiroki catapulted off of it and into the clearing, weapon at the ready.

Taking advantage of the remaining two krabs' confusion, Aelita formed a fourth and final energy sphere, sending it slamming into one of the remaining monsters, vaporizing it instantly.

And if there was one thing you could say about all of Xana's monsters, it was that they were easily surprised. Caught off guard by its companions' violent devirtualizations, the last krab glanced between its two opponents, unsure of who to attack first.

This proved to be its undoing, as, with a deft swing of his wrist, Hiroki swung out the scythe-like end of his kasari-gama, letting the chain slide through his hand and cover the distance of a few meters between him and the krab. The sharpened blade sliced through the krab's forelegs, held taunt now by Hiroki. And as the massive beast fell to the ground, Hiroki swung his weapon about in an elongated overhand arc and plunged it into the krab's weak spot. In a matter of seconds, the final krab was now nothing more than a dispersing cloud of pixels.

Aelita raised an eyebrow in surprise and awe. The young boy was really turning into quite the warrior under Ulrich's tutelage, and the digital angel made sure to let the shinobi know it.

"Well done, Hiroki," Aelita praised warmly as she alighted onto the ground. "Your training with Ulrich has really paid off!"

Hiroki let a shy smile pass his face before growing deadly serious once more at the thought of the desert samurai.

"Well Ulrich might not be around for long if we can't deactivate the tower and go help him," the young shinobi reported grimly.

"What!?" A look of shock sprung across Aelita's face at Hiroki's words. What could possibly make Hiroki say that!? Out of all of them, Ulrich was the most skilled in survival and combat, second to none. "What are you talking about?"

Hiroki took a deep breath before replying. "It's Yumi," he began hastily. "Xana did something to her and now she's escaped. Except now she's all...I dunno, crazy. When I left them, Ulrich and Yumi were fighting pretty ferociously."

Aelita's face was blank for a moment as she tried to process anything. That did not take long, however, as she soon shook her head to focus herself.

"Alright, tell me on the way to the tower," Aelita decided quickly before adding in an authoritative tone. "We need to get there as fast as possible."

And with that, the two warriors charged off in the direction of the activated tower, Hiroki quickly filling in the details of what had happened. And as one listened, one talked, and both ran, they hoped that they would arrive in time.

* * *

THREE DAYS PRIOR

"Alright, does everyone have the plan down?" Jeremy's voice came from above, tense and on edge. The others were on Lyoko, hidden behind a small outcropping of rock that protruded from the Tilting Plains. Before them was the tower, guarded by Yumi and a squad of tarantulas.

"Yes, Jeremy, for the umpteenth time, we've got it," William assured the fretful genius, not without a slight tone of irritation in his voice.

The doppelsöldner was crouching on the left side of the outcropping, Zweihänder resting at the ready on the older boy's shoulder. Just behind him, crouched in anticipation, was Hiroki. Juxtaposed to them was Ulrich and Odd, poised to provide cover fire for his fellow guardian. Finally, Aelita was dead center behind the sandstone boulders. The virtual angel glanced up knowingly at her dear friend.

"Don't worry," Aelita soothed the boy, her calm voice a contrast to William's impatient tone. "We've been over this. We can do this."

"I know, I know," Jeremy replied, as much to himself as to his friends. "I'm just nervous, that's all. There's just so much that could go wrong."

"Well, stow that kind of talk," Ulrich put in sternly as he peeked around the rock. "If we wait any longer, Yumi might get suspicious. You know that she has some way of telling that we're coming."

"Okay, fine," Jeremy retorted pointedly. "I can take a hint. I'll begin prepping the proto-guardian. I should have it ready by the time you've unlocked the tower."

"Alright, then," Aelita announced, noting with a faint smile that Hiroki and Odd were both fidgeting eagerly. "Just like we planned."

Ulrich nodded in response to the pinkette before turning to do the same to William. The older boy exchanged the gesture before both charged out into the open with a shout, weapons at the ready.

"Good luck, princess," Odd called to Aelita as he leapt up onto the nearest boulder, cocking his wrist and taking aim at the nearest tarantula.

"Same to you, Odd," Aelita replied, waving a hand over her star bracelet and activating her wings. Before she took off she glanced over at Hiroki. "You, too, Hiroki."

"Don't worry, we won't let you down," Hiroki grinned in reply as Aelita soared off towards the locked tower. Aelita returned the smile before turning her gaze to the land in front of her. Beneath her, Ulrich activated his super-sprint and surged forward, quickly outpacing William.

The virtual angel soared through the air, keeping a close eye on her friends below. Ulrich naturally made a beeline for Yumi, being one of the only ones actually able to go toe-to-toe with her. The samurai seemed more determined and focused than usual, and Aelita watched in awe as he darted full-speed under the tarantula standing in his way, slicing the massive creature clean in half with his swords. The two halves of the monster disintegrated before they could hit the ground.

And just as quickly, Ulrich and Yumi were engaged in a furious exchange of blows as they sparred against each other once again.

"Look out, Aelita!" Odd's voice came from far behind her.

Glancing quickly around at the feline's warning, Aelita caught sight of a volley of laser fire from the two nearest tarantulas. Pulling herself up short, Aelita readied two energy spheres, hurling them both at the leftmost tarantula, barely managing to simultaneously avoid their laser fire.

Her targeted tarantula, surprisingly agile for its side, dodged to its right, but the virtual angel had been expecting such a move from the monster. She had hurled her energy spheres to each side of the tarantula. And while one missed, the other struck dead on. The massive monster cried out in shock before exploding in a shower of pixels.

Its companion met a similar fate as the remaining tarantula was greeted by a volley of laser arrows, peppering the beast until they finally struck its symbol. The tarantula collapsed to the ground before devirtualizing, and Aelita was once again grateful for Odd's expanded arsenal of laser arrows. If he had ever pulled that stunt before his upgrade, the reckless feline would have run out of arrows thrice over. Aelita gave Odd a nod of thanks before continuing her flight to the tower, ever wary for more monster attacks.

Fortunately, though, the remaining tarantulas were occupied by William, who swung Zweihänder about the battlefield with a practiced ease, and Aelita had to admit to herself that the older boy had indeed improved his skill with the massive blade. Gone were the days of his clumsy flinging about of the sword. Now he had full control of his abilities.

As if to affirm her thoughts, William sliced through one of the tarantulas as Aelita touched the ground. Skittering her feet to slow herself down, Aelita took a deep breath and plunged into the tower, a small gasp escaping her despite her anticipation.

All at once the sounds of battle were muted. Only with her keen ears was Aelita able to hear the dull clash of blades and the screeching roar of the remaining tarantula, now just barely a whisper.

Aelita closed her eyes for a moment, preparing herself for the task ahead. When they opened, her emerald orbs were steeled with determination. Stepping forward deliberately, Aelita positioned herself in the center of the platform.

A soothing resonance filled the air as she slowly levitated upwards, spinning backwards in the air to position herself on the edge of the platform above. Once there, she stepped onto the platform and activated the console.

After confirming her identity, Aelita set about unlocking the tower and re-establishing contact with Jeremy. The task was over quickly - for she had performed it many times before, and it wasn't long before the virtual angel heard her friend's voice.

"Ah, good, you've unlocked the tower," Jeremy's voice came in from above. "I've finished the preparations for the proto-guardian."

"You have it ready then?" Aelita asked, not wasting time with small talk.

"Yes," Aelita could imagine Jeremy nodding his head. "I'm uploading it to your virtual form now."

A green glow surrounded Aelita, and the virtual angel closed her eyes reflexively as the program for the proto-guardian code was transferred to her. Once the process was complete, the pinkette opened her eyes once more.

"Alright, I have it," Aelita replied as she turned around, stepping off the platform, and drifting slowly down to the ground level.

"And you're sure you can do this?" Jeremy asked fretfully. Aelita smiled softly at the boy's concern.

"Yes, I am," she replied soothing. "And remember, this was your idea after all. You wanted to make sure the proto-guardian was deployed correctly."

"And my deployment program wasn't working properly," Jeremy finished, sighing in resignation. "Yeah, I know. I just...I don't know. I just have a bad feeling about this."

"It'll be fine, Jeremy. You'll see," Aelita reassured her friend, but if she was being honest, she knew how he felt. The thought of entrapping someone in a proto-guardian - a fate she had experienced more than once with a real guardian, didn't really appeal to the pinkette.

But it had to be done if they were ever going to be able to unlock the Mountain Sector and bring Yumi into the real world so that Xana could be destroyed once and for all.

The thought of Xana's defeat, after so long, strengthened Aelita's resolve. Touching down on the platform, she glanced up as Jeremy contacted her one final time.

"You ready?" He asked, voice tense.

"I'm ready," she replied without hesitation. "Signal Odd and Hiroki. It's time."

* * *

William leapt out of the way as a wall of crimson energy sliced through the empty space he had previously occupied. The doppelsöldner grumbled irritably as he skidded across the ground, leaving grooves in the sand as he came to a halt.

If William had a least favorite monster to fight, it was the megatank. Impervious to most attacks due to its hardened metallic shell, the spherical monsters required a degree of speed and agility to destroy effectively. Neither of those traits were easy to possess when wielding a sword quite literally as large as you were.

"Alright, that's it," William growled. He'd tried worming his way through megatank defenses enough before. And enough was enough. He was going to do it his way this time.

Bracing Zweihänder in both hands, William stood firmly in the path of the megatank. Seeing this, the massive monster naturally decided he was an easy target.

Charging its central eye, it sent a wave of energy cutting through reality towards the doppelsöldner. William grunted as the crimson ray slammed into his sword. The boy tried to push back against the energy field but he might as well have been trying to tip over a tower.

Slowly, but surely, the boy was overwhelmed by the sheer force behind the energy ray. With a shout, William was flung backwards against the ground, Zweihänder flying from his hands.

"Odd, Hiroki, get into position. As soon as you get an opening on Yumi, take it," Jeremy's voice suddenly came over the comm. Obviously Aelita had unlocked the tower. "Oh, and William? Take care of that megatank, would you? We don't want it complicating things."

"Oh, no, of course not," William retorted indignantly, picking himself off the dusty ground. "It's not like I've actually been _trying_ to take it down. How am I supposed to hit its weak point if it only opens long enough to shoot at me?"

"Eh, no idea," Jeremy shrugged the complaint off. "Ulrich usually seems to handle it pretty well."

"Yeah," William leapt to the side as the megatank took another shot at him, taking advantage of his weaponless state. "Of course he does – he has super _speed_!" William protested, yanking Zweihänder out of the sandstone with a grunt, sending cracks through the sandstone in the process. "Besides, have you ever tried running with a five-foot-long sword?"

"Can't say that I have," Jeremy replied back coolly, key taps in the background indicating that the boy genius was busy on something or another. "But I'm sure you'll do fine."

"Sure I'll do fine," William grumbled, rolling out of the way as a quick succession of energy waves pummeled the pile of boulders behind him into pebbles. "Easy to say when you're sitting in a comfy chair in front of a computer screen."

"What was that?" Jeremy asked, seeming to be only half-paying attention.

William glanced up annoyed.

"Nothing," he replied sourly before facing the megatank once more. "Well? Come on!" William shouted irritably at the monster as it deployed itself in front of him. "What're you waiting for?"

Energy pulses converged on the creature's central eye as it charged itself. William braced Zweihänder again. This time, he was _not_ going to be pushed back.

The doppelsöldner wasn't able to prove this, however, as the megatank suddenly exploded outwards in a brilliant, pink flash. Having covered his eyes to block the brilliant light, William now lowered his hand to see Aelita standing behind where the megatank had previously been, hand outstretched, a smug smile tugging at her lips. Willaim gave her a disgruntled glare.

"I could have taken him," William protested, hefting Zweihänder onto his shoulder. Aelita smirked in reply.

"Oh I know," she replied sweetly. "But we need to get Yumi into that proto-guardian before the week's out, so I thought I'd speed things up."

"Ha, ha, very funny," William drawled out, nodding towards Aelita. "I take it you have the program then?"

"Yep, safe and sound," the pinkette nodded, glancing around inquisitively.

"Ulrich and Yumi fought their way to a rocky outcropping just north of here," William informed the girl, sensing the question poised on her mind. "Odd and Hiroki followed them, so we'd better get going. And," William added with a hint of smirk. "If you really want to speed things up, I could use a ride there. What do you say?"

Aelita feigned a pause of contemplation, resting a finger daintily against her lips. "Mmm," she hummed in thought, seeming to have reached a conclusion. "Nope."

And with that, the virtual angel materialized her wings and soared off into the sky, a soft melodious giggle fluttering from her lips.

"Well, it was worth a try," William sighed to himself, bracing Zweihänder against his shoulder as he jogged off after the soaring form of Aelita. "Hey, Jeremy?"

"Yes, William?" Jeremy's voice faded from distracted to attentive as he focused on his friend.

"You really need to give me another upgrade sometime," William huffed as he jogged across the landscape. "I mean Aelita has her wings, Ulrich has his super-sprint, Hiroki can turn into freakin' smoke. Even Odd running on all fours is faster than I am."

"So you're basically saying that you want to go faster without the need for a vehicle," Jeremy translated effortlessly, adding with a hint of humor. "Why would you want that, William? Feeling a bit slow?"

* * *

"Hilarious," William's voice came through Jeremy's headphone in a sarcastic drawl. Jeremy couldn't help but smile a bit at the older boy's complaints. "You and Aelita should become comedians. But seriously, though, this is getting ridiculous. I can't be lagging behind every time we don't have vehicles on hand."

_He's not wrong_. Jeremy mused to himself. This was hardly the first time the older boy had been left behind in order to respond to a situation more quickly.

Out loud, he replied. "Well, I can't argue with that, but for now you're stuck with what you've got." Jeremy then paused for a moment, weighing his options. Reaching a decision, he added, "I _have_ been working on something that might come in handy. It's just a pet project really, but we don't have time to discuss it right now," Jeremy added quickly, cutting off any chance of getting distracted from the current mission. A glance to map displayed showed that Odd and Hiroki had nearly caught up to Ulrich and Yumi with Aelita being not far behind.

"Okay, I can take a hint. We'll talk later," William replied lightheartedly. "I'll double-time it and get to their position as fast as I can."

"Good, they might need your assistance yet," Jeremy said as he directed his attention away from William and towards the fight between Ulrich and Yumi.

"Odd," Jeremy called in. "It's now or never. Pretty soon Yumi's gonna realize the tower's been unlocked."

"Got it, Einstein," the feline replied enthusiastically.

"And Hiroki, get ready to rush in as soon as Yumi's distracted," Jeremy ordered the young shinobi.

"Will do, fearless leader," Hiroki affirmed equally enthusiastic.

Jeremy narrowed his eyes as he watched his friends take position. From here on out there wasn't much he could do. It was all up to them now.

* * *

Yumi danced away from Ulrich's slashes. Although the ninja was well aware that the samurai would never fatally injure her, the virtual blades were easily capable of non-lethal strikes. And those were a pain. Literally.

"You look tense," Yumi noted, one more comment coming from her as she tried to elicit a reply from Ulrich once more. She was to be disappointed, however, and Yumi frowned as the samurai said nothing, instead moving to attack once more. "You could at least say hello," Yumi grumbled as she deflected in a whirlwind of movement Ulrich's katana with her bo staff.

"A little late for that, don't you think?" The samurai retorted grumpily. A small smile touched Yumi's lips as they continued their intricate dance.

"He speaks!" She exclaimed in mock surprise. Ulrich's scowl somehow managed to become more severe. "I'd thought you'd finally gone mute from your incessant brooding."

"I don't brood," Ulrich replied indignantly. Yumi let out a snort of laughter, dodging his horizontal swipe and using the momentum to sweep the samurai's legs out from under him.

"Sure you don't," she replied with laughter in her voice as Ulrich quickly caught himself, not once leaving himself vulnerable even during his initial fall. "After all, you're always so full of sunshine and smiles."

Yumi ducked beneath a swipe that would've taken her head off had it been faster. And, of course, Yumi knew it could have been faster.

"Temper, temper," Yumi chastised playfully, springing out of reach of the samurai. "You really should see someone about that." She glanced upwards at the sound of flashing wings, catching sight of Aelita flying through the air towards them. "But I guess that won't be me," Yumi sighed, disappointed at the virtual angel's quick arrival. It was a good thing she wasn't trying to keep the pesky girl out of the tower, otherwise she would have been a miserable failure of a guard. Yumi turned back to face Ulrich in resignation. "Well, too bad, I think I'd rather-"

Yumi's voice cut off as she caught, for a fraction of a second, a waver in Ulrich's gaze. The ninja turned to see what had distracted his attention when pain suddenly blossomed on her back and she fell to her knees with a cry of pain. It didn't take her long to find out what had caused the pain.

"Bullseye!" A familiarly annoying voice came from atop one of the nearby rock formations. Yumi glared up the rocky carapace at the smug-looking feline crouched at its peak.

"You insufferable imbecile," Yumi hissed angrily as Odd leapt down to land beside Ulrich. "The battle is over! Must you insist on making yourself even more of a nuisance?" Not waiting for an answer, Yumi got to her feet and triggered her transference ability.

And she was instantly driven back down as her body was engulfed in agony, a sickening yellow energy matrix engulfing her form.

"Yumi!" Ulrich exclaimed, his face for once shifting away from a scowl and towards an expression of shock. The samurai then turned to the sky. "Jeremy, what's happening? Is something wrong?"

_Jeremy_. Yumi narrowed her eyes. So that was it. The arrow Odd had struck her with was no ordinary arrow. It must've contained a program to prevent her from transferring. But why? Save for Ulrich, she could easily beat them all singlehandedly. Why would they try to prevent her from escaping?

"I don't know what you hoped to accomplish with keeping me here," Yumi gritted her teeth as she stood once more. The ninja flicked out her tessen fans as Aelita landed from above and William finally arrived, Zweihänder at the ready. "But I'm going to make sure you're going to regret it."

Aelita and Ulrich seemed to remain calm at her threat, while William and Odd unconsciously readied their weapons. This gave Yumi pause, and she frowned. Something wasn't right. There was someone missing.

Whirling around, Yumi slashed her tessen fans through the inky smoke that had seemingly materialized behind her. Unfortunately for the ninja, Hiroki's smoke form was impervious to any damage. And it was fast. Very fast.

In the blink of an eye, the cloud of smoke had surged around Yumi and materialized behind her. And before Yumi could turn and face the shinobi, a paralyzing energy matrix spread over her body as she was struck in the back by Hiroki's shobo. She froze instantly, unable to move even her mouth to speak.

Turned away from the others and paralyzed, Yumi could only rage silently at her adversaries. What was even more frustrating was the fact that even their voices seemed muted, as if her ears had been covered by her hands. As such, she heard only mummers but could not make out any of the words. Not only was she helpless, but she was clueless as well!

A hint of movement in the corner of her eye caught Yumi's attention, as Ulrich walked in front of her. He seemed to say something to her, but Yumi was unable to make it out. Yumi attempted to glare at him, but she was quickly preoccupied by something else entirely. A strange, vaguely green, energy field had begun coalescing around her, and It took her only a moment to figure out what it was.

_A guardian!_ Now Yumi's angry glare changed to a plea of desperation as she tried to look at Ulrich. She knew that escaping from a guardian was virtually impossible. But the samurai had turned his face away.

_You can't even face me while your little puppet master imprisons me?_ Yumi seethed mentally, unable to direct her anger outwards. In the end, the ninja could only scream in silence as the guardian engulfed her and plunged her into darkness.

* * *

"It's done. The proto-guardian has been successfully," Jeremy's voice came over the comm system. His voice was almost unbearably calm, unbearably relieved. Ulrich steeled himself and glanced back over to Yumi. She looked just the same as she had in battle. The only difference was that now she was floating unconscious, suspended in the air by a translucent orb of green energy.

So not a real guardian, but it was still close enough. The sight of it still made Ulrich's skin crawl. Out of all of his friends, only he and Aelita had been held captive by a guardian. Or rather, Aelita had been many times, while he had only been imprisoned once. The incidence had occurred while Jeremy had been away during the summer. Fortunately, it was of little consequence thanks to Aelita's Creativity. Still, though, the experience had not been a pleasant one.

"Ulrich, are you alright?" Aelita's soft voice met Ulrich's ear as the virtual angel gently rested a hand on the samurai's shoulder. Pulled from his thoughts, Ulrich glanced over his shoulder at the girl. It was clear that Aelita had been having similar thoughts. The samurai could see it in her eyes.

"I'm fine, just…thinking," Ulrich replied softly, realizing that the others had been deep in conversation. When he had been more suspicious of them he had eavesdropped often. But when he had gotten to know them, he had quickly realized that the only conversations worthwhile involved either Aelita or Jeremy and so had taken to ignoring his companions more often than not.

Aelita gave a sympathetic smile of understanding.

"I know it must be harder for you than the rest of us," she sighed sadly. "You were friends after all."

"I'm not sure we were _friends_," Ulrich frowned slightly, a bit confused by the pinkette's choice of words. "Most of the time we were fighting."

"Oh dear, you boys are all so dense," Aelita laughed softly. "Can you honestly call those fights? Sparring was more like it. After all, did either of you really go all out?"

Ulrich's frowned deepened as he contemplated the angel's question.

"No, I suppose we didn't," Ulrich replied, a bit surprised at the realization. "But then, why would we? After all, if either of us had gotten devirtualized, that would have been it. Yumi didn't hate any of us. Well, maybe Jeremy, but I don't think she would have intentionally tried to actually kill any of us."

"Be that as it may, she did seem to give you a lot of attention." Aelita seemed to be trying hint at something but Ulrich pushed the thought aside. Something Aelita had said seemed off. Noting the pensive look on his face, Aelita worriedly stepped forward to stand beside him. "Ulrich?" She asked uncertainly. "What is it?"

"Something you said," Ulrich met Aelita's eyes, making clear how serious he was going to be. "You said Yumi gave me a lot of attention. Why?"

"Why?" Aelita repeated blankly, caught a bit off-guard. "Well, I mean it was clear that she enjoyed your compa-"

"No," Ulrich cut the pinkette off with a wave of his hand. "That's not what I meant. What I meant was why did Yumi direct so much of her focus on me? She may not want to kill any of us, but she has no problem devirtualizing Hiroki or William. So why didn't she try doing that more often?"

"What? Well," Aelita stammered a bit, trying to follow the samurai's reasoning and think of an answer to his question. "You were always fighting each other."

"Not always," Ulrich replied seriously. "There were times where I had to deal with a monster in my path, not to mention the time it took me to reach her. She could have easily been trying to devirtualize William or Hiroki from a distance – or even delay you from reaching the tower. Instead, what did she do?"

"She waited for you to reach her," Aelita filled in the blank, realization dawning in her eyes. "But what does that mean?"

"It means," Ulrich turned to face the imprisoned ninja. "That Yumi wasn't even trying to stop us from reaching the tower."

"Then maybe Yumi wasn't our enemy after all!" Aelita gasped in shock, glancing over towards the unconscious ninja, a tinge of guilt touching her eyes. But Ulrich soon quashed that thought.

"No, she most certainly was our enemy," he replied sternly. "And even if she wasn't, don't you think Xana at least would have tried harder? After all, a handful of monsters is hardly a challenge for two of us, let alone all of us. And I don't think he would have kept on sending so few monsters with Yumi if she kept failing to guard the towers with them."

"So what are you saying?" Aelita asked hesitantly, dreading the answer.

"I'm saying that Xana wasn't trying to keep us from unlocking the towers either," Ulrich turned to face Aelita grimly.

The virtual angel looked shocked for a moment even though what the samurai had said made sense.

"But why-?" Aelita never got to finish the question as the ground suddenly shifted under their feet. With a shout of surprise, Aelita and Ulrich tumbled to the ground. William, Hiroki, and Odd followed in suit, and Jeremy's voice was quick to reach their ears.

"Whoa, what's going on down there? It looks like the entire quadrant's tilting on its side!"

"The _Tilting_ Plains!" Ulrich shouted aloud, irritated at being caught off guard. "Why do you think I called them the _Tilting_ Plains?"

"You mean you weren't kidding about that?" Odd yowled from across the clearing as he dug his claws into the sandstone to avoid sliding. "This place just gets better and better! Give me a glacier any day!"

"Jeremy," William chimed in urgently, slamming Zweihänder into the ground, burying the massive blade halfway into the rock. "We could really use some vehicles right about now!"

"I can't virtualize any!" Jeremy replied back in panic as he tapped his keyboard frantically. "While you were all talking I decided to run a few scans on the proto-guardian to verify that it was working properly. There's still too much processing power being used up in this area in order to contain Yumi."

"Then we'll just have to do it the hard way!" Ulrich gritted his teeth as he swiftly drew one of his katana and drove it into the ground. He was extremely grateful for this a few seconds later when suddenly the ground keeled over, accelerating from a slow grind to a sudden fall.

"Aaah!" Aelita cried out in shock, taken off-guard by the ground disappearing beneath her feet. Ulrich braced his legs against the ground and lunged out with his free hand, grabbing a hold of Aelita's wrist. The pinkette slammed against the ground as the sandstone jerked to a halt, now at a ninety-degree angle. Ulrich winced slightly at the impact. Glancing around, the samurai saw that Odd had managed to grab Hiroki in a similar fashion. Unfortunately, however, it seemed the feline was having a harder time staying put. Dragged down by the extra weight, Odd's claws were slowly gouging grooves in the sandstone as he gradually began to slide towards the Digital Sea.

"Jeremy," Hiroki called out frantically. "Not trying to put pressure on you or anything, but could you get us outta here before Odd and I end up going for a swim!"

* * *

"I'm working on it!" Jeremy retorted tensely, fingers frantically flying over the keyboard in a desperate attempt to shut off the proto-guardian debugging program. Nothing was working however, and the boy was quickly growing frustrated.

_This doesn't make any sense!_ He thought in exasperation, trying once more to virtualize even a single vehicle. _The debug program shouldn't even be taking up a fraction of the processing power of the super calculator! It's a quantum computer for heaven sake!_

Yet despite the blonde's best effort, the program continued to consume system resources to no avail. And there was no reason it would be doing that unless…

"Ugh, I'm such an idiot!" Jeremy slapped his forehead at the realization.

"Umm, Jeremy, that's not the most comforting phrase coming from you," William announced worryingly from below.

"What's going on, Jeremy?" Aelita asked pragmatically, somehow managing to remain calm despite the situation.

Jeremy rubbed his forehead wearily.

"I figured out why the debug program's taking up so much system resources!" He explained, leaning forward and running his fingers across the keyboard again in a seemingly endless stream of code. "Xana's using his control over the Tilting Plains to alter the environment constantly. And since guardians are designed to remain stationary, the proto-guardian holding Yumi is constantly changing to react to the altered environment. Even now, although appearing stationary, the Tilting Plains are oscillating back in forth by just fractions of a degree."

"Uh, English, please?" Odd asked, as irritably ignorant of what Jeremy was saying as always.

"The plains are literally vibrating!" Jeremy groaned impatiently. "You might not be able to feel it, but they are! And that means that the debug program is constantly having to reevaluate the proto-guardian. Xana's made it so that the supercomputer is practically trying to calculate itself. Or at least part of itself."

"Well, you have a plan, right?" William's voice came again, hopefully. Jeremy sucked in his breath, racking his brain for a solution. "Jeremy?"

"Yes, I do," Jeremy replied, making up his mind. "If I can channel the processing power from other parts of the sector then that might be able to open a window for me to stop the feedback loop that's affecting the debug program, letting me shut it down."

"Then you'd better get on it," Ulrich's voice ordered sternly. "We don't have a lot of time."

With that grim thought to drive him, Jeremy frantically set about his task, redirecting the necessary processing power from the other quadrants of the sector into the virtual resources of the Tilting Plains.

* * *

Ulrich hung on to his katana with a steel grip. Sadly, the same could not be said about Odd and the rock being slowly gouged by his claws.

"It can't be done in time."

Ulrich barely managed to her Aelita's soft murmur to herself. The samurai glanced down, a flicker of worry crossing his face.

"What do you mean, 'It can't be done in time'?" He asked bluntly. The virtual angel glanced up at him, surprised he had heard her. She quickly cleared her thoughts, though, with a shake of her head.

"I mean he won't be able to route the resources from the rest of the sector in time," Aelita elaborated hastily. "That's one of the reasons we've been unlocking the towers. Without all of the towers unlocked, each section of a sector is processed individually. This decreases the overall processing power of the supercomputer as each section is treated almost like its own sector as far as processor allocation goes."

"I'm not going to pretend to understand what you just said," Ulrich replied blankly. "But right now it's the only chance we've got."

Aelita pursed her lips in thought.

"Not the only one," she replied slowly. "I may be able to use my connection with Lyoko to right the plains."

"What!? That's crazy Aelita! You've never done anything like that before," Jeremy cried out suddenly over the comm, temporarily distracted from his task. "Who knows what that amount of effort will do to you."

"Jeremy, it's the only chance we've got and you know it," Aelita shot back sternly. "You and I both know that you won't be able to link the sections together in time."

"Aelita, I…," Jeremy's voice faltered with uncertainty as he realized that his friend was right. "Alright. You win. Just please be careful."

"Aren't I always?" Aelita asked cheerfully enough, but Ulrich could tell that the virtual angel was putting on a show. She was just as unsure about this as Jeremy.

"Are you sure of this, Aelita?" Ulrich asked, not wanting his friend to be put into unnecessary danger.

"Don't you start too," Aelita chastised with a nervous playfulness. "Now hold still, I'll need all my focus for this."

Ulrich nodded as Aelita closed her eyes and pressed her palm against the ground. He remained silent as a Aelita's voice sang out through the virtual air, resonating with the world around. At first it seemed that nothing was happening. The plains were still tilted, Ulrich and William were still holding on for dear life, and Odd and Hiroki continued their treacherous slide towards the Digital Sea.

But then the ground began tremble, and, slowly but surely, the plateau began to level itself. Massive chunks of sandstone were dislodged from the plateau as it began to shake and crumble, literally being torn apart as Aelita and Xana wrestled for control.

Eventually, though, Aelita managed to win out and the plains moved faster until they finally ground to a halt. Ulrich let go of his sword as Aelita collapsed to the ground with a pained moan. Catching her before she could collide with the ground, Ulrich gently rested the now unconscious angel onto the sandstone before glancing around to make sure everyone was alright. To his relief, they were.

"I can't believe that worked!" Jeremy's relieved voice came over the comm system before immediately turning fretful. "How is Aelita doing? Is she alright? Her ID card is indicating that she only has one life point left."

_One life point left?_ Ulrich glanced down at the pinkette in shock and concern. Aelita must have pushed herself to the edge to save them. He shook his head to clear it before responding to Jeremy.

"She's alright, Jeremy, just unconscious, that's all."

"Good," Jeremy sighed in relief. "Still, you should get her to a tower as fast as possible."

"What about Yumi?" Ulrich asked, glancing over to where the ninja was held suspended in the air.

"She'll be fine for now," Jeremy consoled the samurai briskly. "Right now we need to get Aelita to her tower. Once that's done you can come back and guard Yumi until we've completed unlocking the desert sector and are ready to materialize her."

"Wait, materialize her?" Odd's voice came out as surprised as he, Hiroki, and William walked over to where Ulrich was crouched next to Aelita. "But I thought you could only materialize one of us per sector?"

"For once you've thought correctly," Jeremy replied wryly, deliberately not elaborating on the matter. This led the others to turn their gazes back to Ulrich.

"You're not going to materialize yet, are you?" William asked bluntly. Ulrich shook his head.

"No, not yet," he gazed over to Yumi. "I want to make sure Yumi's safe and off of Lyoko first. Besides," Ulrich let a cocky one-sided smile tug at his lips. "I can handle myself just fine until we unlock Yumi's sector."

"You sure you'll be okay?" Hiroki asked hesitantly. The younger boy had grown to look up to the samurai. Once again, Ulrich nodded his head.

"I'm sure," the samurai replied with a hint of finality before scooping Aelita up gently in his arms. "Now let's get princess her to her tower and call it a day."

"I couldn't agree more," Jeremy's voice came again from above. "Three vehicles comin' up!"

As the young genius materialized the vehicles for his friends, Ulrich glanced down at Aelita. Her face was peaceful, lacking any of the burdens that plagued it during her waking life. Then, turning to face Yumi Ulrich noticed the same could be said about her.

_Well, at least they'll have some respite from all of this – at least for a little while,_ Ulrich thought to himself with grim optimism. _I just hope everything will turn out right for once._

And with that thought, Ulrich laid Aelita onto the overwing and the group set off towards the Forest Sector. They traveled with the knowledge that the longer they traveled, the farther they were from the girl suspended in sleep, trapped in her emerald cage.

* * *

_The world was a chaotic cauldron of colors, shifting this way and that. So strange were the ebbing tides of light that sometimes Yumi wasn't sure whether or not she even knew what colors flashed before her eyes. _Where am I?_ The thought felt muddled, suffocated, dizzying. Yet as soon as it had coursed through her mind with a thousand jabs of what might have been pain, the world began to clear, and Yumi found herself on the edge of a cliff upon the edge of her mountains. For a moment, Yumi just sat there, enjoying the view. Then she lay back and her hand brushed against something wooden. Glancing down in surprise, Yumi found herself sitting on…something. Whatever it was, it was long and seemed to be made of wood, and, judging by its vaguely L-shaped design, was clearly meant to be sat on. For the brief flash of a moment, Yumi seemed to think she could remember what it was called. But as quickly as the moment had come, it had flitted away. "Are you alright, Yumi?" A voice suddenly came from beside her. Yumi twisted to the side and was pleasantly surprised to see Ulrich sitting next to her, a worried frown set in his face. For a moment, Yumi was elated that they seemed to be in the middle of a normal conversation for once, but then she noticed that there was something different about the samurai. For one thing, he wasn't a samurai. Gone were his swords and there was no longer a hachimaki wrapped around his forehead. Rather, Ulrich's garbs appeared more…casual, not to mention much more drab in color compared to his bright yellow jumpsuit. "You're not going to leave us, are you Yumi?" Ulrich asked, seemingly unaware that Yumi hadn't yet to answer his first question. Yumi snapped out of her trance and opened her mouth to answer, but suddenly the world seemed to draw away and Ulrich disappeared. The bench beneath her seemed to morph into hands and drag her to her feet before throwing her onto the ground. Or floor. The world had become greyer and the ground had turned into a harsh, rock-like material. More cold and inhospitable somehow than the grey stone of her mountains. Yumi slammed into the hard ground with a cry. Pushing herself up, Yumi looked to see who had pushed her. A wall of metal bars was slammed shut, sealing Yumi in the cage. And outside the cage stood everyone she thought she had ever known. She tried to ask them what was going on but they simply walked away without a word or second glance, abandoning her in the prison of stone. In vain, the ninja grabbed the bars and tried to dislodge them. To open them somehow. But it was a futile effort. __**"He…betrayed us. And…they desire to cage us. Keep…us chained."**__ Yumi jerked her head up in shock. She knew that voice! Whirling around, the ninja was hardly surprised to be confronted by herself. Yet this was not the image she had known. True, its stance was rigid and apathetic, and its eyes were cold and almost emotionless, but there seemed to be something more in them. Yumi quickly realized what it was: bitterness. And although it was dressed as she was, the entities skin was pale and its clothes were colored primarily dark crimson with dark green highlights rather than her black and red jumpsuit. __**"They fear us. They do not…understand." **__A flicker of emotion seemed to flash through her doppelgänger's eyes: frustration. "Who doesn't understand us?" Yumi asked, trying desperately to make sense of everything. But her duplicate ignored her. __**"They wish to…destroy us. Tear us apart in this…wretched prison."**__ Another emotion flashed through the dead eyes: fear. Then the mysterious voice dropped to a growl, and Yumi stepped back fearfully. __**"We will…cannot let them." **__It began stalking towards Yumi until the ninja was cornered against the bars behind her. Now an all more frightening emotion filled those eyes: anger. __**"They…will NOT succeed!" **__Yumi's doppelganger lunged towards her, pinning her against the metal grating and wrapping its hands about her throat. The girl tried to yell for help, but the words were unable to make it past her throat. Now all four emotions laced the hard, cold eyes that stared into Yumi's, and the hands about her neck felt almost desperate, as if they were the hands of a woman drowning and pulling you down in order to remain afloat themselves, not the hands of one trying to strangle you. __**"Let. Us. OUT." **__The entity screamed out in one final emotion: rage. And as Yumi slipped into darkness, that was the last thing she felt. Rage._

* * *

Aelita gazed down onto the aptly named Tornado Peaks. She watched as entire monoliths of sandstone were engulfed by the constantly raging sandstorms.

"You sure you're up to this?" Ulrich's voice came from beside her. Aelita glanced over to her friend, who was likewise gazing out across the desert.

"I am," Aelita responded firmly, turning her focus back to the plateau below. "Although I'd be much more comfortable if you were coming along."

"As would I," Ulrich replied in turn. "But I'm not leaving Yumi's side until she's materialized on Earth."

"Well, that may be as soon as tomorrow," Aelita said. "But I am grateful that you took some time away from your vigil to help us out."

"Of course, what are friends for?" Ulrich shrugged amiably. "Besides, Jeremy said he'd keep an eye on Yumi until I returned. And since you guys won't be heading out until then, I'm sure Yumi's in safe hands."

Aelita glanced over at the samurai, arcing an eyebrow. Not long ago Ulrich would have been almost loathing to trust Jeremy with anything. And yet here he was now, trusting Jeremy with a fellow guardian. Aelita smiled softly at the thought, a fact that did not escape Ulrich.

"What?" The samurai demanded. Aelita let out a puff of laughter at the samurai's tone.

"Oh, just thinking about how there was a time when you wouldn't have trusted Jeremy with a pebble, let alone one of us."

"Well, times change," Ulrich shrugged as nonchalantly as he could. "I guess I've grown…used to you guys."

"And we've grown used to you, too," Aelita returned the sentiment happily.

The two guardians stood there on the edge of the Oasis for some time in companionable silence, neither saying a word. One was focused on remembering the elaborate paths of the sandstorms and the hidden caves that spanned beneath, while the other attempted to summon up any minute amount of knowledge that might aid his allies in the Tornado Peaks.

The serenity of the moment passed when the sound of three beings virtualizing behind them reached the two guardians' ears. Ulrich and Aelita turned to see Hiroki, Odd, and William land on the ground. The two walked over to join their friends.

"Hope we didn't keep you two waiting," William smiled amiably.

"Not too much," Ulrich shrugged nonchalantly, greeting Hiroki and Odd before racing away back in the direction of the Tilting Plains.

"Where's he off to in such a hurry?" Hiroki jabbed at Ulrich's disappearing form with his thumb.

"He's returning to the Tilting Plains to make sure Xana doesn't try anything with Yumi," Jeremy answered the younger boy's question.

"Talk about a major crush," Odd laughed aloud.

"You would know," Aelita knocked Odd playfully on the shoulder. "Mr. I've-Dated-Every-Girl-In-Kadic."

"Hey, what can I say?" Odd crossed his arms smugly. "When you've got it, you've got it. Besides," the feline held up a claw matter-of-factly. "I haven't dated _every _girl in Kadic. I haven't dated you or Sissi – and not for lack of trying with her."

"She is a bit of an airhead, isn't she?" Hiroki snorted in amusement. The shinobi wasn't much of a fan of Sissi given the older girl's propensity for bullying Milly around.

"Don't be too hard on her," William admonished the two, leaning on Zweihänder casually. "She's shown many times that she's capable of being a normal, helpful person."

"I suppose she has," Aelita added thoughtfully. "And I suppose it's a shame that we always have to use the return trip so often after Xana's attacks."

"Well, we do," Jeremy chimed in pragmatically. "So since we're supposing, I suppose we're stuck with air-head Sissi. Anyways," the young genius perked up. "We have a tower to unlock, so here are your vehicles."

"Finally!" Exclaimed William in relief as he hopped onto the overbike while Odd somersaulted onto the overboard and Hiroki took the overwing. "I've been getting tired of running around everywhere."

"What's the matter William?" Aelita giggled melodiously as she activated her wings. "A little run too much for you?"

"I swear, it's like every day is 'Take a Jab at William' Day," William complained, not helped by the fact that Odd grinned mischievously in response.

"You know it is!" The hybrid laughed playfully. "Now let's get this tower unlocked before dinner. There's spaghetti tonight, you know."

"Alright, then, I guess we'll take our queue from Odd's stomach," Jeremy joked dryly. "Lead the way, Aelita. I'll monitor your progress as best as I can from her."

"Will do, Jeremy," Aelita replied. The angel leapt up into the air and flew down towards the plateau below. Following her lead, William, Odd, and Hiroki piloted their vehicles after her as they plunged into the storm-stricken plains of the Tornado Peaks.

* * *

Ulrich skidded to a halt upon reaching the tower that dominated the landscape of the Tilting Plains.

"They've just entered the Tornado Peaks," Jeremy's voice came from above. Ulrich had requested that Jeremy keep him apprised of the others' progress. And since he wouldn't be able to do much more than monitor the situation until Aelita unlocked the tower, Jeremy had readily agreed. "You sure about not going with them? I mean, Xana hasn't tried to get at Yumi."

"Yet," Ulrich supplemented cautiously. "I don't want to take any chances. Besides, I don't think the others will have much to worry about other than the sandstorms."

"Your still convinced that Xana let us unlock the towers?" Jeremy asked. Aelita had told the boy the day before about Ulrich's concern.

"Yes," Ulrich nodded. "It's the only thing that makes since given how easy it's been. I just wish I knew why he was letting us."

"Well, whatever the reason, we don't have much choice, now, do we?" Jeremy reasoned pragmatically. "We need to unlock the sectors in order to materialize you and Yumi. So we'll just have to deal with what Xana is planning whenever it happens."

"I suppose so," Ulrich replied uneasily. "Still, I wish we knew what Xana had to gain from this. I have a bad feeling about all of it."

"Well, look on the bright side," Jeremy remarked cheerfully. "Soon we'll be able to materialize Yumi – tomorrow probably, and then the only people we'll need to worry about are you and Aelita."

"'We' won't need to on that last one." Ulrich joked dryly. "You worry about her enough for the rest of us combined."

"And what's that supposed to mean? I'm her friend aren't I?" Jeremy demanded indignantly. Ulrich rolled his eyes.

"That you are," the samurai replied wryly. "How are the others doing?"

"Oh, they're fine," Jeremy reported jovially. "They've managed to avoid all the storms so far and not a monster in sight. I'm sure they're having a great time."

* * *

"Ack, this is so boooring!" Odd exclaimed dramatically, bemoaning the fact that their journey to the activated desert tower had been virtually uneventful. "Why can't something just happen already?"

William rolled his eyes in response. The hybrid had been like this ever since the group had reached the tower and Aelita had entered to deactivate and unlock it.

"Be careful what you wish for, Odd," the older boy advised sagely. "You might get more than you can chew."

"Well at least then I wouldn't be hungry anymore, then!" Odd cried out, throwing his paws up in the air in protest.

"Wait, you feel hungry?" Hiroki asked, confused. "I thought we weren't supposed to feel hungry on Lyoko since, you know, we don't have actual bodies?"

"Speak for yourself because I'm starving!" Odd replied petulantly, clutching his stomach pitifully. "Oh, I wish we could just get this over with already."

"What happened to being all excited about this mission?" William asked, smirking slightly. "I thought we were supposed to be looking forward to finally unlocking the Desert Sector."

"I know," Odd relented. "But there hasn't been a single monster – not one! I mean, Aelita could have done this by herself if she had wanted to! Has Xana just given up or what?"

"Ha, if only," William snorted dryly. "As much as I enjoy fighting monsters, it's for the best if we can take down Xana once and for all."

"Speaking of which," Hiroki chimed up, remembering an idea that had occurred to him. "Do you think Ulrich would let me train with him sometime?"

"You want to train with Ulrich?" William asked dubiously. "I mean, I know he's skilled and all, but he's not the best of company."

"Yeah, why not train with one of us instead?" Odd asked, eager to put in his own two cents.

"Well, it's not that I wouldn't like to," Hiroki rubbed his head awkwardly, trying to think of how best to phrase the next part. "But, I mean, Ulrich kinda has a fighting style that's closer to mine."

"So what you're saying is that I'm too slow, Odd's useless, and Aelita would just skip training you and pound you into the ground for fun," William quipped dryly, earning a glare and protest from Odd.

"Well, yeah – I mean, not the 'Odd's useless part', but," Hiroki stumbled over his word's a bit as a thought occurred to him. "Would Aelita really do that?"

"I don't know," William shrugged. "She materialized a boulder over my head on my first day here, so you tell me."

"O-okay," Hiroki replied a bit nervously, deciding that Aelita probably wouldn't be, after all, the safest person to train with. "So what about Ulrich? I mean, do you think he'd be okay with it?"

"Well, I suppose as long as you train in the Oasis, Ulrich shouldn't have a problem with it," William replied thoughtfully. "And I'm sure he'd appreciate you wanting to hone your skills in combat."

"Yeah, I bet you could just drop in on him anytime," Odd added buoyantly. "After all, it's not like he's got all that much to do, right?"

"I guess not," Hiroki said hesitantly. The shinobi wasn't sure dropping in on Ulrich unannounced was any better than having Aelita train him.

"Ah, come on," Odd urged Hiroki on cheerfully. "Tell you what. I'll show you how to use that virtualize program Aelita made for me. That way you can come here any time you want!"

"You mean the 'odddontyoudarescrewthisup' program?" William grinned cheekily.

"No," Odd fumed in annoyance. "She changed its name!"

"To what?" Hiroki smirked, eagerly awaiting what Aelita had renamed the program.

Odd looked sheepish for a moment before irritably gritting out, "Uh, she renamed it 'tellsomeoneelsehowtousethisandillendyou'."

"Wow, she is _really_ serious about naming her programs," William arced an eyebrow, not sure whether to be amused or concerned.

"Yeah, tell me about it!" Odd agreed in exasperation. "It's like she doesn't have anything better to do! I mean even Jeremy doesn't name his programs like that. All they're like is…um, things like… progSpecAr03 or some other weird language."

"I don't think that's in any language," Hiroki snorted in amusement. "But at least it's better than Aelita's. Besides, you already showed me how to use it remember?"

"Huh? You mean you actually remember?" Odd asked, seeming genuinely surprised that Hiroki had remembered a process that hardly involved pushing a few buttons. Hiroki rolled his eyes.

"Of course, I do," Hiroki replied indignantly, rolling his eyes. "Aelita didn't exactly design it to be hard to use. She made it for you after all."

"Speaking of Aelita," William spoke up before Odd could come up with a retort, turning towards the red-shrouded tower. "When do you think she'll finally deactivate this tower?"

The tower seemed to be waiting for this question to be asked, however, as neither of his companions had time to respond as the menacingly red mists that surrounded the tower faded into a soothing blue.

"Never mind," William quickly amended as Aelita emerged from the tower.

"Sorry I took so long," Aelita called out to her friends. "I was running a few extra programs to better understand what happens when a central tower is deactivated."

"So what you find out?" Odd asked curiously.

"Nothing yet," Jeremy replied from above, joining in on the conversation. "Just a leap in processing power at the moment- although that's to be expected. Still, I'll keep an eye on it just in case."

"Well, since that's taken care of," Odd stretched his arms lazily. "How's about we get some food?"

"You mean, how about _you_ get some food?" Aelita laughed out melodiously. "Sounds like a plan. I'll meet you all in the cafeteria. And Jeremy," Aelita added authoritatively. "I'd had better see you there unless you want me to come over to the factory and drag your butt all the way back to Kadic."

"Alright, alright, I get it," Jeremy grumbled disconsolately as the others laughed at the boy's reluctance. "Devirtualizing William and Hiroki now."

* * *

Ulrich sat atop a low-standing sandstone boulder, idly carving…something into the ground below. It had been a day since the others had finally unlocked the last of the Desert Sector. And it was the day Jeremy had said might be the day they virtualized Yumi.

The samurai remained trapped in these thoughts before hearing the familiar sound of a person virtualizing and then dropping to the ground. Ulrich frowned in confusion as he turned around to face the newcomer.

"Hey, Ulrich," Hiroki waved shyly as the young shinobi got to his feet. "Um, I was wondering if-"

"I would train with you," Ulrich completed Hiroki's sentence for him, remembering what he had been waiting for. Noting the younger boy's look of surprise, he added, "Aelita told me. She has very keen hearing, you know."

For whatever reason Hiroki seemed to become a bit uneasy, but he quickly shook it off.

"So, you're okay with it?" Hiroki asked, a tad uncertain.

"Of course," Ulrich nodded pragmatically. "It's better than sitting around here by myself all day. Besides," Ulrich added with a hint of appreciation. "I'm glad that you've decided to hone your fighting skills. If only Odd and William would consider doing the same," the samurai added sourly.

Hiroki brightened up visibly.

"Yeah, I want to learn how to use my weapons and powers better!" The young shinobi exclaimed excitedly. A slight smile tugged at the edge of Ulrich's lips.

"Well, you'll have to do that yourself," the samurai admonished softly. "But I can teach you some techniques that will help. Plus, I'll be a much better opponent than any of Xana's monsters."

At this the samurai drew his katana.

"So let's begin."

* * *

Aelita had just walked into class with Jeremy when she heard the pulsations in the back of her mind. Practically screeching to a halt, Aelita grabbed Jeremy's arm urgently, trying her best to do so gently. It wouldn't do for him to have a broken arm after all. The boy turned to her, growing serious as he noted her urgency.

"Xana?" Jeremy asked.

"Yes, he's activated a tower," Aelita told him quickly before pointing to where Odd was taking his seat at the back of the room – a perfect spot to avoid the teacher and perhaps take a cat nap, as it were. "Go get Odd and contact William. I'll head to Lyoko."

"Got it," Jeremy nodded hastily as he made his way over to Odd. Then, making some excuse about forgetting some school supplies in her room, Aelita left the classroom as quickly as she entered.

And ran right into Mr. Delmas.

"Oh my! I'm so sorry, sir!" Aelita blinked in surprise as she gazed up at the man. "Just going to get some…school supplies from my room. Sorry."

"Ms. Stones," the principal nodded stiffly before making his way to the classroom Aelita had just exited. For a moment the girl was confused by the man's behavior but shrugged it off. She had more important matters to attend to.

Quickly checking to see if the hallway was empty, Aelita deactivated her tower, dissipating her spectral form in the process, and plunged back into the virtual world.

* * *

"Since you're here, I take it today is…what is it called? Sunday?" Ulrich asked as he and Hiroki finished their latest spar. Unsurprisingly, the samurai had won hands-down. Still, he had to admit that Hiroki's skills were growing and he was starting to really get a handle on his abilities.

"Nah, it's Saturday," Hiroki shook his head as he bent over, resting his hands on his knees and taking a breather. "We only have school half the day, and I didn't feel like sitting through my boring math class – it's my last class. I mean, it's not like I'll fail it, anyways," Hiroki waved the subject away. Ulrich raised an eyebrow inquisitively.

"You're good with mathematics I take it?" The samurai asked curiously. He had not expected one who was so similar to Odd to be…well, intelligent.

"Yep," Hiroki chirped cheerfully, straightening up proudly. "Even after skipping a grade, I still get A's."

"Odd, could learn a thing from you, then," Ulrich snorted in amusement. "I don't think-"

A low rumble in the distance cut off the samurai's words as he suddenly shut his mouth, straining his ears to discern the noise better. Hiroki grew wide-eyed at his friend's sudden silence.

"What is it, Ulrich?" Hiroki asked urgently, glancing around, as he, too, heard the distant rumbling. "Is it a tower?"

"No," Ulrich replied briskly, eyes fixating on three shapes in the distance. "Megatanks. There."

Hiroki eyes moved in the direction Ulrich was pointing. The shinobi whipped out his kasari-gama, trying not to be too concerned. After all, these were megatanks. And the way to beat a megatank was through speed. And both he and Ulrich had speed, so fighting the monsters would be a breeze, right?

A sharp series of clanks behind the boy nixed that idea.

"Krabs!" Ulrich exclaimed irritably as the last of the three new monsters landed on the ground. Turning to Hiroki, the samurai was quick to give the young shinobi an order. "Hiroki, deal with the krabs. I'll handle the megatanks."

"All by yourself?" Hiroki protested wide-eyed. "Are you sure?"

"Don't ask questions, and just do as I say," Ulrich snapped impatiently, unsheathing his katana. "When you've dealt with the krabs _then_ you can help with the megatanks. Now go!"

Without waiting for a response or any more protests, Ulrich surged off towards the rapidly approaching megatanks, leaving Hiroki to deal with the krabs charging towards him.

"Almost'd forgotten how bossy he is," Hiroki sighed to himself as he activated his smoke form and shot off towards the trio of krabs. It was time to put his training to good use.

* * *

"So what's up?" Odd asked as Jeremy hurried over to his table, a concerned look on his face. The other blond gave a quick glance about the room before replying.

"Xana's activated a tower," Jeremy said urgently in a hushed tone. "We need to grab William and get to Lyoko. "

"Then we've got a problem, Einstein, "Odd whispered back. "Remember how William was put in charge of the rec room? We'll he, Jim, and Delmas are there working some things out about the rules or some stuff."

"Great, so we're one down," Jeremy grumbled irritably, shaking his head. "Well, at least we won't have to deal with Yumi. Anyways, we should-"

"Jeremy Belpois, Odd Stones!" A familiar and not to welcome voice came from the classroom. Odd and Jeremy looked over to see Mr. Delmas at the head of the classroom, spectacled eyes boring holes through them.

"I thought you said he was with William!" Jeremy hissed at Odd. The other boy looked just as helpless and confused as Jeremy did, however.

"I thought he was," Odd replied apologetically, as Jeremy turned to face the principal.

"Um, yes, Mr. Delmas?" Jeremy asked, not a little bit concerned. "Do you need something?"

"You two are to accompany me to my office right away," the principal instructed authoritatively. "Immediately."

"Uh, yes, sir. Of course," Jeremy stammered slightly, sharing a worried look with Odd as the eccentric blond stood up as well. The two boys then proceeded to nervously follow Mr. Delmas out of the classroom.

"Whaddya think he wants?" Odd asked uneasily as they followed the principal out the door. Jeremy shrugged uncertainly.

"I don't know," Jeremy whispered covertly. "But if he's calling us both out, worst case scenario is that he might have found out that your documents were forged."

"Oh, no," Odd mumbled to himself, distraught. From what he understood, the papers manufactured by Jeremy were what allowed him to stay here. Without them, he'd be forced to be confined back on Lyoko.

The two boys continued to follow the principal until Jeremy noticed something strange.

"Uh, Mr. Delmas? Sir?" He asked cautiously. The principal barely acknowledged the boy. "Um, not to sound presumptuous or anything but isn't your office the other way?"

The man in question stopped dead in his tracks with what sounded like an irritated ground. Pivoting on his feet, Mr. Delmas glared down at the two boys menacingly and a familiar symbol flickered in his eyes.

"Xana!" Jeremy and Odd exclaimed, turning to run just in time to avoid the bolt of chain lightning that struck the ground where they had been standing.

"See? Told you Mr. Delmas was in the Rec Room," Odd panted as they ran from the irate spectre. Jeremy shook his head weakly but said nothing, conserving his energy for the long run ahead. At least now they knew what Xana's attack was.

Unfortunately, it was going to be a lot harder to reach the factory.

* * *

As for Xana's attack, though, Jeremy had no idea how wrong he was. For as the tower drew Aelita's attention and the spectre diverted Odd and Jeremy, so too did the monsters Xana had sent distract Hiroki and Ulrich.

As the two warriors were played farther and farther away, Yumi lay floating in the air, suspended in the proto-guardian and undisturbed by the outside world. But that would not last long.

A shrill and meancing clatter of harsh clicks sounded from behind the tower. Translucent blue tentacles were the first to emerge from behind the massive structure, followed soon after by the massive and bulbous form of the Scyphozoa.

The horrifying creatue quickly made its way towards the incapacitated ninja, tentacles undalating as it floated through the air. With a speed surprising for its size, the Scyphozoa wrapped its tentacles about the shimmering green proto-guardian before plunging the tips through the seemingly impermeable membrane. Three of these tips hovered just above the forehead of the ninja that lay within.

Pulses of light began oscillating through the tentacles of the creature as it began feeding data into its quarry. A buzzing hum began to fill the air as slowly the proto-guardian began to shift its hue from green to orange.

* * *

"Impact!"

Ulrich's arms surged downwards with a sudden burst of energy as he plunged both of his katana into the eye of the megatank beneath him. As the massive monster jerked backwards, Ulrich leaped away from megatank, avoiding the inevitable explosion and the two waves of crimson energy that sliced through the air from the other two creatures.

Landing gracefully on the desert sand, Ulrich glanced around the battlefield for a quick assessment. He had just taken done the first of his opponents. After dodging quickly out of the way of another volley, Ulrich assessed Hiroki next. In doing so, the samurai witnessed the young shinobi bring down one of the nearby krabs by slicing through its front legs before delivering a debilitating overhand strike. Ulrich nodded to himself; it was a move they had recently formulated during Hiroki's training. Another ray of red energy. Another burst of speed.

Everything seemed to be going well, and Ulrich was about to turn his attention back to his fight when he heard a strange hum. Quickly dodging out of the way of another energy burst, the samurai quickly discerned the source of the noise.

His heart immediately dropped to his stomach. For far across the clearing, perched over Yumi and coiled about the proto-guardian was the Scyphozoa, the same monster that had tried to steal Aelita's memories in Carthage.

Anger surged through Ulrich, his eyes blazing fiercely. He was not going to let Xana try and do the same to Yumi. He activated his supersprint but, before he could run too far, was forced to skid to a stop as two crimson rays overlapped in front of him.

Skittering backwards, Ulrich glanced over at Hiroki. But the shinobi was too far away and still had two krabs to deal with. And he seemed to be having trouble landing a hit. Ulrich gritted his teeth in rage as he realized why. The crustacean-like monsters were more concerned about tying the young shinobi up rather than devirtualizing him.

Just like the megatanks were with him.

One might not think it possible, but this one thought made Ulrich even angrier than he already was. And with that anger came a potent mixture of desperation and determination.

The two megatanks before him rotated to aim at him. The samurai surged forward once more, the two monsters charging their central eye. Ulrich narrowed his eyes as he closed the distance.

He was not going to be stopped again. Not. Again!

"Yaaaah!" Ulrich cried out as he flung his two katana out away from him with such a force that he nearly dislodged his shoulders.

The two razor sharp blades flew away from him, plunging into the eye of each megatank, sending both monsters rolling backwards before shattering into hundreds of pixels.

Dead set on reaching Yumi, Ulrich paid no mind to the whereabouts of his two swords. His only thought was getting to Yumi and driving the Scyphozoa off – even of that meant doing it with his bare hands.

Time seemed to slow for the samurai as he approached Yumi, the orange light from the monster's tentacles gradually spreading across the proto-guardian.

Ulrich had almost reached Yumi when the orange energy had engulfed the ninja.

And suddenly the world seemed to shatter as the proto-guardian burst apart in a bright light, the shockwave sweeping Ulrich off his feet and sending him flying backwards.

"Ulrich!" Hiroki cried out as the samurai hit the ground hard. Ulrich rubbed his shoulder, getting to his feet as the young shinobi raced over. Apparently the two warriors weren't the only ones surprised at the shockwave. The two krabs had been equally caught off-guard, and Hiroki had quickly made them regret it. "Here," the shinobi said, handing the samurai one of his fallen swords, the blade having flown off in the shinobi's direction. Ulrich took his sword as Hiroki glanced over to the source of the explosion. "Ulrich, what…?"

The words died on Hiroki's lips, and Ulrich twisted his neck up to see what had caused the shinobi to falter. He immediately regretted it.

Slowly getting to her feet was Yumi. But this was not the Yumi he had known from before or after she had allied with Xana. Her skin was now beyond pale, seeming almost drained of life. Her jumpsuit's colors had darkened, know only ebony black and a dark crimson that looked almost like blood.

The ninja's hands clenched into fists as she opened her eyes, and even Ulrich was taken aback by the cold rage in them. He got to his feet swiftly, every fiber of his being telling him that something was very, very wrong with Yumi.

That feeling was confirmed when the ninja turned her gaze on the two warriors. If looks could kill, then the hatred that burned in her eyes would have struck the two down a thousand times over.

"You tried to keep me _trapped_ in there," Yumi hissed slowly and menacingly, slowly unfurling her tessen fans. "That's the last mistake you'll ever make!"

* * *

PRESENT TIME

Jeremy had just arrived at the factory when the tower was deactivated. Practically leaping into the control chair, Jeremy hastily shoved on his headset. Adjusting the microphone, the blond spoke hastily into the device.

"Aelita? Aelita, are you there!?" Jeremy almost-shouted, still full of adrenaline from being chased by Xana's spectre.

"I'm here, Jeremy. No need to shout," Aelita's soothing voice rang out. 'I've deactivated the tower."

"Well, that's a relief," Jeremy sighed, slumping backwards into the chair.

Aelita's next words drained the relief right out of him.

"Not much of one," Aelita contradicted gravely, before hastily summarizing the events of the past half hour. "Jeremy…Xana's done something to Yumi. Hiroki said that she's been…changed somehow. By the Scyphozoa. She's currently fighting Ulrich in the Desert Sector. We're heading his way to lend a hand."

"Wait, what!?" Jeremy shot up in his chair in surprise and shock, trying desperately to process the load Aelita had just dropped on his lap. "I-what-when did this happen?"

Jeremy's hands flew over the keyboard even as Hiroki and Aelita's signatures flew across the virtual map of Lyoko.

Sweat beaded on Jeremy's forehead. There was no way this was happening. He had installed fail safes on the proto-guardians: alarms that would send an alert directly to him. Why hadn't he received any?

The answer was quickly made clear to him as another window popped up. The tower Xana had activated hadn't just been maintaining a spectre – it had also been blocking the fail safe's attempt to send a warning.

Jeremy slapped himself on his forehead. How could he be so stupid!

Hastily he transferred the comm system to the Desert Sector.

"Ulrich!" Jeremy cried out, attempting to make contact with the samurai.

"Jeremy," Ulrich replied, words inter-spaced with shouts and grunts. "Good to – hear – you. Yumi's – escaped."

"I know," Jeremy lamented. "Ulrich, I'm sorry. I thought-"

"Stow – that talk," Ulrich snapped authoritatively. "No time." This time Jeremy heard the clash of metal on wood. Yumi must be engaging the samurai in melee combat. That would explain the two guardians' close proximity to each other. "Right - now," Ulrich continued intermittently as Yumi's strikes came faster and faster. "Focus - on – solving."

"Right," Jeremy shook his head, taking a deep breath to focus. "Aelita and Hiroki are on their way. They'll be there soon."

"No – rush," the samurai gritted out ironically. It took a moment for Jeremy to realize that the samurai had just cracked a joke.

_Probably to help relieve the stress of battle,_ Jeremy thought to himself, hands flying across the console. There must be something he could do to help Ulrich or incapacitate Yumi in some way. He was frantically wracking his brain for this when the sound of the vault door opening hissed behind him.

Swiveling around, Jeremy saw Odd step out of the elevator, a cocky grin on his face.

"Whelp, our old pal's gone," Odd exclaimed cheerfully. "Guess we didn't have to get here after all, huh?"

"Don't be so sure," Jeremy reprimanded, almost forgetting that the other boy had no idea of what was going on. Odd's smile faded uncertainly. "Ulrich is in big trouble. The activated tower was just a distraction. Xana's freed Yumi from the proto-guardian and…changed her somehow."

"Wait, what!? Yumi's...what!?" Odd spluttered in surprise. Jeremy pinched the bridge of his nose, urging himself to remain patient. He didn't have time to explain the full situation to Odd. Not now.

"Ulrich's is in trouble. Fighting Yumi. Go to scanners now," Jeremy ordered bluntly. Odd looked like he was about to ask another question, but for once the eccentric blond held his tongue, nodding instead as he spun around and ran for the elevator.

"On it, Einstein!" Odd called over to his shoulder.

Jeremy didn't bother acknowledging his friend as he began to prepare the virtualization program needed to send Odd to Lyoko. The process was one he had done many times before and so was completed quickly.

An idea came to his mind. Glancing over to the sub-folder that held various modifications to Odd's laser arrows, Jeremy began to search through them. With any luck, he'd find one that fit the situation. After all, the transfer inhibiting arrow wasn't the only side project Jeremy had been working on.

* * *

The now-familiar sense of virtualization tingled through Odd's form as he regained feeling in his body. Gravity was next to kick in as he landed the ground, catching himself on all fours.

Glancing around, tail twitching anxiously, Odd spotted two forms rapidly closing in the distance. One was Aelita, looking like she should tear through the sound barrier as she soared through the air. The other was Hiroki, expertly piloting the overboard.

Normally Odd would have been annoyed at someone else using his overboard, but, given the circumstances, Odd figured Aelita had probably given Hiroki the vehicle so he wouldn't have to exhaust himself using super-smoke.

"Odd!" Aelita called out when they were within hearing distance, having spotted the feline long before he'd spotted her. "Ulrich and Yumi are south of the Oasis – just above the Tornado Peaks!"

"Got it!" Odd shouted back as he raced towards an intercept with the overboard. "Hey, Hiroki! Trade!"

The young shinobi glanced over to Odd, nodded in understanding, and flipped off the board as Odd leapt onto it. Before Hiroki had hit the ground, the shinobi had activated his smoke form, now close enough to the battle to be of use.

The ground flew beneath the three warriors as they closed in on the Oasis, and it wasn't long before Odd caught sight of Ulrich and Yumi. A shiver ran through the feline's spine at the sight of the ninja and how viciously she was attacking Ulrich, utilizing her bo staff in one hand and a tessen fan in the other.

"We have to hurry! He won't last much longer!" Aelita cried out, struggling to make her body more aerodynamic. Odd did likewise by crouching down closer to the overboard.

Aelita was right. Ulrich wasn't going to last much longer. Already the samurai had lost a katana, and it seemed that Yumi was now simply overpowering him with sheer strength somehow. Each strike of the bo staff against Ulrich's remaining katana sent the samurai stumbling backwards.

Odd winced as the bo staff finally connected with Ulrich's stomach, causing the samurai to double over in pain. Yumi then sent her knee straight into the brunette's face, and Odd was now close enough to hear the samurai cry out in pain at the strike.

* * *

Pain briefly blinded Ulrich as he jerked backwards, barely able to maintain his balance and keep his sole katana in hand at the same time.

Blinking his eyes to clear his vision, Ulrich took several rapid steps backwards to avoid any more of the ninja's attacks.

Finally able to see clearly, Ulrich gritted his teeth as Yumi continued to advance. She was stronger, somehow, than she was before – and faster. The ninja had managed to dodge one of his speed charged strikes and disarm him at the same time. Whatever Xana had done to her hadn't just made her angry at everything but had also clearly improved her natural abilities.

Ulrich leapt to the side as Yumi flung a boulder at him, tearing it out the ground with her telekinesis and sending it soaring through the air.

That was another thing about her that had improved, Ulrich noted grimly. Her telekinesis no longer seemed to tire her out – at least not that the samurai could tell.

Rolling on the ground, Ulrich sprang to his feet, katana at the ready, as Yumi lunged at him once more.

Fortunately for him, however, the ninja never made it all the way, as, suddenly, from out of the sky came a hailstorm of laser arrows and pink spheres of energy. The ground around Yumi sparked and flashed under the onslaught, and the ninja had no choice but to dodge about the volleys.

Behind her, Ulrich saw a familiar cloud of black smoke surging towards them. A spark of hope lit in Ulrich. If Hiroki could strike Yumi in the back once again, then at the very least they could retreat and regroup.

But that's where Ulrich had made his mistake. He had looked, and Yumi narrowed her eyes as she followed his gaze.

"Oh, no, you don't," the ninja snarled, and what happened next seemed to move in a blur before Ulrich's eyes.

Moving almost as fast as him, Yumi flung out her arm, a white aura of energy gathering about her. His second sword, knocked out of his hand late in battle, leaped into the air as if of its own accord and shot towards Hiroki.

Ulrich tried to warn the shinobi, but the boy had already reformed and was now flying towards Yumi, scythe in hand to block the oncoming blade.

But it was to no avail as, in front of Ulrich's stunned eyes, Yumi formed a fist with her hand, and his katana shattered into dozens of sharp shards. Hiroki, unable to block all of the shards, cried out in agony as he was pierced with over a dozen of the sharp, metallic fragments.

Ulrich watched in horror as the shinobi devirtualized, not even hitting the ground before disintegrating.

"Hiroki!" Odd cried out in shock at the gruesome devirtualization, face drawn in a snarl as he and Aelita let loose another volley.

Yumi reacted to this in stride, however, and with a flick of her wrist had summoned one of her tessen fans and sent it flying towards the feline.

Odd swerved out of the way, but he hadn't been the intended target. The sharpened war fan struck the back of the overboard, sending the vehicle and the hybrid on it hurling towards the edge of the plateau and the Digital Sea below.

And that is what snapped Ulrich back into action.

"Aelita!" The samurai barked commandingly, drawing the angel's attention to the careening feline.

"On it!" She yelled back, letting up her torrent of energy fields as Ulrich raced back towards Yumi, katana slashing towards the ninja.

She parried with ease, however, and it was then that Ulrich noticed a thin veil of white aura about her. Eyes widening, the samurai whirled around to where Aelita had just grabbed onto Odd's hand. The angel was unaware of the tessen fan circling around to strike.

Ulrich took a breath to yell a warning, but pain erupted through his head as Yumi slammed her bo staff into it. His ears ringing, the samurai slammed into a rock, katana clattering from his hands. He tried to push himself up, but his arms gave out and he fell back to the ground, dazed.

* * *

Aelita watched the samurai fall to the ground as she clung desperately to the cliff-side.

The tessen fan had come out of nowhere and struck her wings mid-flight. Fortunately she'd already had hold of Odd's paw and had managed to catch the cliff's edge with the other. If she hadn't then they would have both ended up in the Digital Sea for sure.

As it stood, though, that could very well happen. Aelita's grasp on the rock was tenuous, and she couldn't re-activate her wings given that her star bracelet was on the same hand that gripped the cliff's edge. Besides that, it was unlikely that her wings had been given sufficient time to regenerate.

To make matter's worse, Yumi, having dealt with Ulrich for the time being, was making her way over to them, bo staff in hand. Murderous rage burned in the ninja's eyes, and suddenly Aelita doubted very much whether she and Odd would make it out of this alive.

As Yumi continued to approach them, Aelita desperately tried to use her creativity to form a platform below her and Odd. But the effort of holding both her weight and Odd's was too much of a strain already, and Aelita could not muster the strength to do so.

"Aelita, you've got to let me go!" Odd said, voice strained. "If you keep trying to hold us, then we'll both end up devirtualized forever!"

"Not – gnh – going to happen," Aelita grunted back as she tried to pull them up the cliff. But one arm is not sufficient enough for such a task, and Aelita could barely to more than make her arm tremble at the effort.

A shadow fell across her eyes, and Aelita glanced upwards to meet the cold gaze of Yumi. The ninja crouched down so that her face was almost next to Aelita's.

"I will never be contained again!" The girl hissed furiously into the angel's ear, straightening back up and raising her bo staff high into the air.

Aelita shut her eyes as the ninja plunged the staff downwards, but instead of the sudden pain in her hand that she was expecting, all Aelita heard was the keen resonance of a blade.

Daring to open her eyes, Aelita glanced up in shock at the gleaming blade that protruded from the ninja's chest.

Yumi dropped her bo staff as she stumbled backwards, grasping the sword embedded in her abdomen. The ninja's face was nothing short of surprised as she fell to her knees.

A distance behind her was Ulrich, still kneeling on the ground, arms outstretched after throwing his katana.

"I'm sorry, Yumi," Aelita could barely hear his lips murmur, voice cracking from pain and sorrow, and the angel could only watch in a mixture of horror and relief as Yumi collapsed before her, slowly dissolving into black mist. Before the ninja had fully dissipated, she glanced up and met Aelita's eyes.

For a moment the young angel thought she saw a glint of recognition in the once hate-filled eyes. But the moment passed just as quickly as the ninja's form dissolved into black smoke before her eyes.

* * *

Ulrich could only watch despairingly as Yumi devirtualized before his vary eyes, her body collapsing into a cloud of dark, red-tinted smoke.

He closed his eyes in shame. If he had only been faster, more attentive then none of this would have happened. First he had let Xana draw him away and then he had let himself get distracted in his battle with Yumi, losing his katana and then failing to prevent his friends from being struck down by Yumi. And now this.

"Ulrich! Aelita and Odd are still in danger!" Jeremy's frantic voice filled his head, snapping him out of his thoughts. Before him, the samurai saw Aelita's hand begin to slip off of the cliff's edge.

Using what was left of his energy, Ulrich darted forward in a burst of speed, barely grabbing Aelita's hand in time.

"Hold on!" Ulrich gritted his teeth as he grabbed Aelita's hand in both of his, straining to pull his friends up.

"Wasn't – planning –on doing anything – else," Aelita gasped as her arm was nearly yanked out of her socket by the sudden pull.

But as hard as he pulled, Ulrich simply did not have the strength left to pull his two friends up.

"Jeremy, I can't do it!" Ulrich cried out, voice strained. "They're too heavy!"

"Then I guess you need a hand," a voice came from behind Ulrich, as another set of hands, clad in black gloves, joined Ulrich's in pulling Aelita up.

Ullrich glanced to side, relieved to see William there as they hefted their fellow warriors up and over the cliff.

As soon as his claws could get a grip in the nearby rock, Odd clambered over the edge, allowing the other two boys to easily lift Aelita up.

Ulrich fell backwards against a nearby rock, arms resting against his legs, head slumped down again. Now that the immediate threat was over, the dark thoughts that had been plaguing the samurai returned in full force. He closed his eyes, unsure if what he was feeling was sorrow, anger, shame, or a mixture of the three. In all honesty, he was having trouble thinking at all.

"Hey, where's-?" Odd's mouth was muffled quickly by Aelita's hand as she shushed him with a pointed look. Ulrich barely looked up. He knew what the feline had been going to ask.

Odd's eyes grew wide as he realized the answer to his question, sharing a somber look with William as he did.

"William, how about you and Odd head back to Earth, hm?" Aelita suggested softly. Nevertheless, there was a slight edge to her voice and the two boys just nodded and headed for the tower.

Once they were gone there was only Aelita, Ulrich, and a katana laying unclaimed on the desert sands. Ulrich glared dully at the weapon, wishing that the sands would swallow it up.

But it didn't disappear. It just laid there, as if reminding him of what he'd done.

Ulrich didn't know how long he stayed like that, silent while Aelita stood near him, as quiet as he was. Inevitably, though, it was Aelita who broke the harsh silence.

"I'm sorry you had to choose," Aelita murmured softly as she walked over to Ulrich, hesitantly resting a hand on his shoulder. When he didn't resist she slid down next to him, arm curling around his back to comfort the distressed samurai.

After a while more of silence, Ulrich spoke up, voice broken as if he hadn't spoken in years.

"Don't be," he whispered softly. "If I hadn't then I would have lost two friends instead of one."

Aelita shot the boy a somewhat surprised look. It was the first time Ulrich had referred to her and Odd out loud as friends. The same went for Yumi.

"And I know it wasn't Jeremy's fault," Ulrich added as if to reassure the pinkette, and Aelita was grateful for that. She had admittedly feared for a brief moment that Ulrich would turn his sadness on Jeremy in anger. "He did what he could," Ulrich continued. "We knew Xana had been getting stronger but we didn't see this coming."

"The Scyphozoa," Aelita muttered, closing her eyes as the sight of the monster filled her mind. "Xana used the processing power from the unlocked towers to bring the Scyphozoa out of Carthage."

"No, he used the _Desert_ Sector to bring it out of Carthage," Ulrich spat out bitterly. Aelita opened her eyes wide. Surely the samurai couldn't be blaming himself?

"Ulrich, it's not your fault," Aelita began, protesting the boy's self-blame, but Ulrich's glare silenced her.

"Yes, it is," Ulrich replied vehemently. "I let my guard down. I knew Xana had been gathering power. I knew he wouldn't let Yumi go so easily. And I did nothing but stand around in wait."

The samurai gently lifted Aelita's arm off his shoulder before shoving himself to his feet. Aelita stood up with him and reached out for him as he walked away, but she found that words escaped her and she could say nothing.

Ulrich glanced down at his discarded blade before turning away in disgust.

"I need time alone," he said simply and firmly, meeting Aelita's eyes with his, urging for her to understand.

Aelita opened her mouth to tell him to stay, to talk, but in the end all she could do was nod sadly.

"I understand," she said sorrowfully. And she did. Over the course of her life fighting Xana and adjusting to the real world, there had been times when Aelita had felt almost as sorrowful as Ulrich did now. She knew what it was like to be alone. "But, please, Ulrich?" Aelita continued, the samurai turning to face her quizzically. "If you need someone to talk to – or even just to be with, don't hesitate to ask, alright?"

Ulrich pursed his lips for a moment before nodding softly. "Alright," he agreed in barely a whisper before turning and disappearing in a flash of yellow light.

Aelita watched sadly as her friend vanished into the distance. She glanced down at the katana he had left behind.

"Jeremy," Aelita called softly as she knelt by the sword, examining it carefully.

"Yes, Aelita?" Jeremy had remained quiet up until then, politely maintaining a distance while he had materialized William and Odd.

"There was something strange about Yumi's devirtualization," Aelita confided in her dear friend, running her fingers across the blade of the katana lightly. "She dissolved into a cloud a blackish-red smoke – not pixels."

"That is strange," Jeremy conceded. "What are you thinking?"

"I don't know," Aelita admitted, thoughtfully glancing around. "Do you think Yumi was really devirtualized for good?"

There was a moment of silence before Jeremy responded.

"It's hard to say," Jeremy replied slowly, cautious of getting his friend's hopes up. "But given what you've told me, the data I've collected, and what we know about our good friend Xana, I wouldn't be surprised if he somehow managed to prevent her from being lost for good."

There was a moment of silence as Aelita pondered what her friend had said. At last she made up her mind.

"Jeremy," she said, knowing she would instantly have the boy's attention. "Find out everything you can. If Yumi survived then we need to be prepared for her. If she didn't, well…I want to be sure."

"Understood," Jeremy assented, fingers already flying across the keyboard judging by the series of clicks and clacks. "William and Odd have already left for Kadic, so it's just you and me. We can get started right away."

"Okay, but first I have something to do," Aelita replied.

The virtual angel reached down and picked up Ulrich's fallen katana. Holding it in both hands, still kneeling on the ground, Aelita plunged it blade first into the ground. The sword stayed upright in contrast to the flat land surrounding it.

Getting to her feet, Aelita nodded at her handiwork. When Ulrich was ready, his sword would be here. In the meantime, it would make a suitable monument for Yumi's fate.

"Alright," Aelita called back to her friend. "Let's get started."

* * *

_Oblivious to the strife that had filled its sister sector, the Mountain Sector was serene as misty clouds lazily drifted through its peaks. The tranquility of the scene was soon disturbed, however, as, on one of the nearby peaks, a swirling cloud of black fog formed into a maelstrom of dark smoke. When the chaotic swirl of black and red had died down, a form emerged from the center. Gazing down at her hands and chest, the ninja was surprised to find herself alive. Not pleasantly surprised, strangely enough, she noted. Just surprised. In addition, she felt calmer than she had moments before. Not calm by any stretch of the word. But calmer. __**"Aelita…was nearly devirtualized." **__The voice that had plagued her dreams and filled her thoughts returned to the ninja's mind. __**"This is…unacceptable."**__ Yumi narrowed her eyes angrily. "I did what I had to," she spat out indignantly. It was a lie of course. The voice seemed to contemplate her outburst, and the ninja realized that she had never felt…anger before at the voice. Once she had longed for its presence, even yearned for it. Now she felt no attachment to the voice other than loyalty. Begrudging loyalty. __**"Well,"**__ the voice continued after a time. "__**It is of little…concern now. She survives. Thus we…survive. However,**__" the voice warned, sending a shiver of fear running up the ninja's spine. She knew that the being speaking to her was more powerful than she could imagine. __**"Exercise…restraint in the future."**__ And with that the voice was gone as quickly as it came. Yumi glared out over the mountains. She knew she needed restraint. She knew she had restraint. So why didn't she feel restrained? Meditation, she remembered. Meditation had helped her control herself. Perhaps it would help now as well. But why? Why now? What was so different? That was the question on the forefront of the ninja's mind. She held her hand forward, clenching it into a fist. She was stronger – and faster. Not just in body but also in mind. But that didn't feel quite right. No, there was something else different about her. As the ninja gazed out over the mountains she realized what it was. She no longer found them beautiful. She no longer felt any connection to them. Quickly the ninja thought back to the faces she had known, the people she had fought. She could have sworn that at one point she had cared for them – maybe even loved them. Yet now all she felt towards them was anger at worst, apathy at best. The ninja frowned. There was one thing else, too. Something far more drastic. Because she was pretty sure – could have sworn, really – that she hadn't wanted to destroy Lyoko before. But now? Now, Yumi couldn't wait to get started._

**Post-Story Author's Note: Well, like I said before, I hope that was worth the wait. This was my longest chapter so far and, to be honest, one of the hardest to write. There are many drafts of this laid to rest in the rough drafts folder to say the least. Anyways, seeing as this is a very important chapter plot-wise, I want to know what you think. Any criticism is welcome - I do want to improve my writing and storytelling skills after all. As for the next update, I've already started writing the next chapter. And by that I mean _literally_ writing. Up until now I've been typing these stories from scratch and I think that is part of the problem as to why it takes so long to produce these. We'll see. Anyways, it'll be a week or so (finals, after all), until the next chapter is updated. So until next time, readers, where the Lyoko Warriors will be attempting to overcome to Yumi's supposed demise.  
**


	23. Chapter 23

**Author's Note: Well, this chapter should have come out sooner. One quick note: disregard the "preview" from the last author's note, as this chapter was written sort of impromptu when I realized the chapter I had originally planned out required a bit more set up. Anyways, enough of this. Quick thanks for the reviews you've graced me with. Hope you enjoy.  
**

**Now on with the story...**

The frantic beeping of an alarm woke Jeremy from his sleep. Blindly waving his arms about, Jeremy tried to hit the snooze button on his alarm clock.

It was only when his hand failed to find it and he yanked his headset off his ears that he realized he'd fallen asleep at his computer.

And that the persistent beeping wasn't from his alarm clock- it was from his computer.

Xana had launched an attack.

Blinking the sleep out of his eyes and giving himself a sharp slap on the face, Jeremy tried to drive away his sleepiness as he fumbled about for his dangling headset while simultaneously attempting to type in the needed commands to make connection with Lyoko.

Finally managing both, Aelita's worried face popped up on the screen. It was strange to think that just a floor above, laying in her room, was a near-perfect spectral copy of the girl.

"Jeremy! What on Earth are you doing up at this hour?" Aelita asked.

"No time," Jeremy shook his head. "Xana's launched an attack. I'm going to grab William and Odd."

"And I'll locate the tower," Aelita finished for him. "What about Hiroki and Ulrich?"

A pause, then Jeremy shook his head.

"It's the middle of the night – I don't want to risk Hiroki getting in trouble again with his parents. As for Ulrich," Jeremy sighed. "I'll try to contact him when I get to the factory, but who knows. Don't forget, he didn't even answer last time and I couldn't even locate him."

Aelita's face darkened.

"Ulrich should know better," She said.

"Well, it's too late for that now," Jeremy tried to placate the virtual angel. "We have a job to do. I'll contact you once we get to the factory – presuming Xana doesn't plop a roadblock in front of us."

"Please be careful Jeremy," Aelita implored before she disappeared from the screen.

"I'll do my best," Jeremy sighed, pushing himself away from his desk.

Seeming to move with more energy than he possessed, Jeremy rushed to William's room, knocking on the door as loud as he dared.

Despite the knocking not being all that loud, William was quick to open the door, albeit quite drowsy.

"Jeremy? What's going on?" William yawned.

"Xana attack," Jeremy replied. "We need to get Odd and head to the factory."

William was instantly awake.

"What about Hiroki?" William asked as they sped over to Odd's door.

"It's the middle of the night, and he lives off campus," Jeremy shook his head, fishing out the spare set of keys to Odd's room – it would be near impossible to wake the eccentric blond from outside the room.

Fitting the key into the lock and twisting, Jeremy rushed into the room with William and shook Odd awake.

"Wha-" Odd began before William clamped a hand over the blonde's mouth.

"Xana attack," Jeremy said for what felt the umpteenth time that night. Odd's eyes widened. William removed his hand.

"Already?" Odd asked. "But Xana already attacked us last night and this afternoon!"

"Well, he's attacking again," Jeremy shrugged. "Come on, we have to get a move on!"

"Aye, aye, Einstein," Odd said, leaping out of bed. The three boys rushed out of the dorm, all but Jeremy in their night clothes.

Running as fast as they could without waking anyone, they made their way down the hall and to the doors on the far end. But as William reached to open the doors, the sound of creaking hinges rang out from behind them.

Whirling around, they were just in time to see the door to Nicolas and Herb's room swing open, Sissi's pair of minions emerging shortly thereafter. Before Jeremy and the others could turn about and exit as fast as possible more doors began to open, and one by one their occupants stumbling out.

"Uh, oh," Jeremy muttered as Nicolas and Herb, the closest of their classmates, turned towards them, their eyes dull and vacant, and began to shamble forward.

* * *

Aelita tore through the lush, green air of the forest at breakneck speeds, mind turning over recent events.

This was the third Xana attack today. Or maybe it was the first. Aelita hadn't really bothered to check the time. Regardless, for the past week, Xana had been near relentless with his assaults.

As Aelita weaved in and out of the trees, she heard none of the tell-tale sounds of an activated tower. Although, truth be told, the virtual angel wasn't paying much mind to her surroundings anyways – she had a fairly good idea of which sector this attack was coming from.

For although Xana's attacks could come unpredictably at any moment, Aelita had noticed a pattern in them. Diving into the way tower of her forest and straight into the chasm within, Aelita emerged into the frozen air of the Ice Sector to a similar silence. She nodded to herself as she flew across the region as quickly as possible. Even with unpredictable timing and the use of different towers, Xana was still systematic: Forest, Ice, then Desert.

At the thought of the Desert Sector Aelita was reminded of Ulrich. Even though the samurai no longer aided them outside of the desert, Ulrich had at times helped them deactivate towers in his home sector. At times. During the last desert attack Ulrich was nowhere to be found. Literally. Not even Jeremy could find him on the scanners. The others, Jeremy included, had simply assumed Ulrich was storm-bound as there were still occasional, if mostly harmless, sandstorms. Still, when Aelita had finally managed to locate the samurai and question him on the matter, Ulrich had simply shrugged and let out a noncommittal grunt. Aelita was almost sure that the samurai _hadn't_ been storm-bound. And if he had, then it had been very intentional.

The second way tower of the Ice Sector breached the horizon. Aelita hadn't realized she had been so deep in thought. With a light shake, Aelita cleared her mind of any thoughts concerning Ulrich – she needed to focus on the task at hand and wondering if she could count on the desert guardian for aid wasn't going to help anyone.

Angling herself as she had done in the forest, Aelita dove into the tower, emerging into the harsh light of the desert seconds later. Sure enough, as Aelita soared up into the sky, her keen ears heard the faint rumblings of a pulsation and in the far distance the virtual angel could just make out the red glow of an activated tower.

_The Northern Wastes!_ Aelita thought to herself in relief. If there was any place in the Desert Sector Ulrich could be counted on defending, it was the Northern Wastes. That and the Oasis, of course.

With a surge of her wings, Aelita flew off towards the Northern Wastes.

"Jeremy? Are you there?" Aelita called up into the sky, focusing on the supercomputer in the lab.

No answer.

Concerned, Aelita tried again, this time with her friend's computer.

Again, no answer.

Likewise, Aelita tried his laptop and heard nothing back. The angel told herself that there was nothing to worry about – Jeremy had, after all, left his room and most likely hadn't thought of bringing his laptop with him. Still, the fact that Jeremy had yet to arrive at the factory was a touch concerning.

Aelita took a deep breath and focused on the activated tower ahead as it grew closer and closer.

_No problem,_ Aelita thought to herself. _It's just like the old days…for now. You can do this. Just get to the tower, look around, and wait for the others._

* * *

But as Aelita grew closer to the activated tower, the horde of Xana-possessed students drove Jeremy, Odd, and William further away from the factory and Lyoko as they raced through the moonlit hallways of Kadic.

"Seriously, what's with these guys?" Odd panted. "Instead of the night of the living dead it's like the night of the sleeping dead."

Chancing a glance behind them, Jeremy saw that the horde chasing now consisted of all the dormitory students and had grown to include several of Kadic's teachers.

"My guess is Xana used some form of hypnosis to induce a form of controlled sleepwalking," Jeremy said, as out of breath as Odd was, while William was infuriatingly as ever unfazed. "There's no way Xana's strong enough to directly possess this many people."

"I thought Xana increased in power every time we do a return trip," William suggested. "And we have been doing a _lot_ of those lately."

Jeremy shook his head as they rounded a corner and came to a brief stop.

"He _has_ been increasing in power lately – especially given that we unlocked three of the four sectors," Jeremy gulped for breath, hands on his knees. Odd was in a similar condition. "But that's still not enough. Maybe enough for two or three, but not this many," Jeremy waved vaguely towards the corner just as the first of their pursuers emerged from around it.

"Alright! Time to go," William shoved Odd and Jeremy forward, ignoring their cries of indignation. "How he did it doesn't matter," William said as they ran. "We're going to run out of places to hide eventually and we _still_ need to get to the factory!"

They burst through a door, slamming it shut and barricading it as best they could with a nearby chair.

"Yeah," Odd coughed. "At this rate, we'll be lucky if we get there in time for breakfast! If we're not a midnight snack by then that is!"

"You're right," Jeremy replied, straightening up and pulled out his phone, dialing a number and pressing the device to his ear. "Let's just hope Hiroki can get there faster."

"And if he can't?" William asked. Jeremy shared a look with Odd.

"Well, if he can't," Jeremy replied as he waited for Hiroki to pick up. "Then we'd better hope the activated tower's in the Desert Sector and Ulrich is nearby. Otherwise, Aelita'll be on her own."

* * *

Unfortunately, Ulrich was nowhere near the activated tower. In fact, he wasn't even in the Desert Sector. Nor had he been the last time Jeremy had attempted, and failed, to contact him – a fact which the samurai tried to ignore.

Where Ulrich _was_, however, was the lower platform of a way tower, having just emerged from the chasm below. He only knew what lay just outside the tower, for he had been there before only a brief amount of time. As for what lay beyond…the desert guardian could only guess.

"Well, here goes nothing," Ulrich drew in a deep breath, unsheathing his lone katana from his shoulder as a precaution and plunging into the outside world beyond the walls of the tower.

As with his previous visitation, Ulrich found his breath stolen from him as he gazed upon the vast, mist-covered rock spires of the Mountain Sector.

Surveying the scenery with barely concealed awe, Ulrich took the time to memorize his surroundings from the most insignificant pebbles to the winding pathways that stretch off towards far away peaks.

He did this so he would not become lost in the case the land vanished as it had his previous visit. Where the Desert Sector had its sandstorms and the Ice Sector had its blizzards and Carthage had its insane traps, the Mountain Sector had disappearing terrain. And mists. Ulrich couldn't forget the mists.

While they had seemed harmless at first, Ulrich had been slow to realize that, although less potent than the cutting desert sands, the mists that rolled in before the land disappeared likewise leeched his energy away like some ever-present parasite.

Between the mists and the disintegrating landscape, Ulrich wondered how Yumi could have ever possibly survived so long.

This brought another thought to his mind as Ulrich took a few strides forward. He wondered what Aelita had to deal with in the Forest Sector. He doubted it could have been as lethal as this sector.

_She probably just sang it away, whatever it was,_ Ulrich thought to himself. _Lucky._

Still, regardless of whether or not the Forest Sector had its own dangers, Ulrich's mind was focused on the Mountain Sector. Now that he had more time to observe his surroundings, Ulrich realized that the imposing peaks with their long, spindly pathways were not devoid of life. Or at least its virtual representation. For clinging to the cliff sides and the occasional free floating rock was the occasional small, scraggly tree – each seeming to hang on for dear life.

But other than that, there was no sign that anything else existed in this seemingly barren field of floating grey stone. Like last time Ulrich didn't see any sign of Xana's presence – unless one counted the tower as such.

Ulrich glanced up to the grey-tinged sky, cupping his free hand around his eyes to block out excess light – a trick that had been invaluable in the desert. And while the Mountain Sector, just like the forests and glaciers, had no view of the sun, the sky was still bright enough to amply light up Ulrich's surroundings.

But as much as he would have liked to continue to admire his surroundings, Ulrich was a survivor. And survivors couldn't afford to stand around gawking.

Besides, he was on a mission and he had questions that needed to be answered. And Ulrich felt certain that the answers lay within the misted peaks of the Mountain Sector.

And so it was with grim stride that Ulrich, weapon at the ready and constantly alert, set out upon one of the many winding paths that crisscrossed the sector. With any luck the path would lead him to where he wanted to go. If not, then he would try every one of them until he did.

* * *

Hiroki was having a rather pleasant dream when he was rudely awakened by the persistent ringing of his cellphone.

"Wha'?" Hiroki mumbled, slapping about his hand for his phone until he finally managed to grab hold of it.

Flipping it open, Hiroki rubbed the sleep from his eyes as he read the caller ID and held the phone to his ear.

"Jeremy? What is it?" Hiroki muttered, rather hoping Jeremy didn't _really_ need him for anything so he could go back to sleep.

"Hiroki," Jeremy's voice came, the urgency in it garnered Hiroki's full attention. "Xana's launched an attack. Odd, William, and I are pinned down at Kadic for now. We need you to get to the factory and help Aelita deactivate the tower."

"Me? By myself?" Hiroki's eyes widened. His mind was still a little foggy from sleep. "But how will I know where Aelita is?"

"Leave that to her," Jeremy instructed. "Contact her once you get to the factory and she'll walk you through the necessary steps. Don't worry, Hiroki," Jeremy said. "You've done this before. All you have to do is use the virtualization program Aelita made. The only thing new will be the different coordinates."

"You make it sound _so_ easy," Hiroki muttered as he untangled himself from his bed sheets.

"It really is," Jeremy replied, the sarcasm either escaping him or just being ignored. Hiroki suddenly heard I large crash come from his phone.

"What was that!?" Hiroki exclaimed.

"No time to talk," Jeremy was panting now. "Gotta run. Good luck."

The line cut out as Jeremy hung up, but the suddenness of it all was enough to jolt Hiroki into action. In a flash the boy was out of his bed and getting dressed.

Once in more appropriate attire and with a professional amount of practiced stealth, Hiroki opened his door and crept down the hallway, sneaking past the room his parents were sleeping in. Then, with no small degree of caution, Hiroki reached the other room at the end of the hall.

Pushing the door open without a creak, Hiroki crept through the room, empty save for the plethora of boxes stored near the walls and the bed on the opposite end. Hiroki's parents had intended it as a guest room at one point, but then the fighting started…

Hiroki shook the thoughts from his head. He needed to stay focused.

Opening the window, Hiroki climbed out of the room and down the rather conveniently sturdy drain pipe attached to the wall. Jumping down the last few feet, Hiroki paused for a moment to glance back up at the window.

"I hope I don't get caught again," he muttered before darting off into the night.

* * *

The pulsations grew louder and louder as Aelita neared the Northern Wastes. Keeping her eyes peeled, the virtual angel flew to the edge of one of the cliffs that surrounded the region's tower. What she saw feeled her with dread.

For surrounding the tower on all sides were eight tarantulas, a pair of megatanks, and a host of kankrelats. And to make matters worse, Ulrich was nowhere to be seen.

Aelita's face was a mask of despair. There were more monsters than she could handle alone – and maybe even more than Odd and William could handle even with her help.

Desperate, Aelita scanned the clearing once more for any sign of Ulrich, but all she saw was the slab of stone Ulrich had carved a map on during Xana's siege of the Northern Wastes. Other than that there was no sign of the desert guardian.

_Desert guardian!_ Aelita thought bitterly. A fine job he was doing. If he wasn't going to help them in the other sectors he could have at least given them a hand in his own! Instead she would have to wait for the others to arrive and _hopefully_ she would manage to get to the tower without her or Odd getting devirtualized.

But, gazing down at Xana's forces below as they patrolled the area around the tower, Aelita couldn't see any way of this turning out well. So she turned her gaze out to the desert, searching the horizon as she waited for the others to arrive.

"Damn you, Ulrich. Where are you?" Aelita muttered to herself.

* * *

Ulrich walked along the stone path as he continued to wind his way through the mountains. He had yet to come to another plateau like the one the way tower had sat upon, and he was beginning to get worried. With the frequency of Xana's attacks of late, Ulrich knew it was only a matter of time before the next one came. And he did not want to be caught out in the open.

Pausing to check his landmarks - three massive peaks that lay due south and what appeared to be a curved wall of rock to the west, Ulrich realized that he should be nearing another tower.

Should be. Nothing was for certain in this twisted labyrinth of floating rock.

Just as Ulrich was about to begin forward once more, a rumbling sounded in the distance. The samurai's eyes widened.

Knowing that the sector would begin to disappear to the west first, Ulrich spent little time in deciding to retreat back to the way tower, unable to count on finding another tower in time.

"Super-sprint!" Ulrich intoned as he whirled about, sheathing his katana and darting back the way he came in a blur of yellow.

He had almost made it to the way tower's plateau when the mists started to roll in. Knowing what followed, Ulrich chanced a glance over his shoulder.

His eyes widened as he saw the terrain rapidly disappearing behind him.

Ulrich turned forward once more and pushed himself harder, driving every bit of energy he had into his flight, eyes now narrowed in concentration.

But even as he neared the tower, Ulrich realized that he was not going quite fast enough.

"How did Yumi survive out here?" Ulrich asked of no one in particular. Chancing another glance, Ulrich let out a shout of surprise when he saw the ground disappear right behind his very feet.

"Here goes nothing!" Ulrich gritted his teeth as he leapt forward, relying on his momentum to carry himself over the ground and towards the tower.

But momentum could only carry him so far, and as the rock beneath him vanished to reveal the Digital Sea far below he fell short of the tower.

Suddenly Ulrich collided painfully and face-first with…something.

"Ow," Ulrich muttered, blinking his eyes open.

The samurai was shocked to be staring down into the Digital Sea with seemingly nothing but mist in between them. Pushing himself to his knees, Ulrich rapped his knuckles on what felt suspiciously like rock.

"Oh." So that was how Yumi had survived.

Feeling self-conscious, Ulrich jumped to his feet and glanced around. Mist surrounded him and he began to feel its lethargic effect.

Fortunately, the mist was much less potent than the cutting sands of the desert or the biting winds of the Ice Sector. Thus assured that he was not in any immediate danger, Ulrich began to ponder his next problem: finding the way tower.

The tower had disappeared along with the landscape, but, knowing what he knew now, Ulrich assumed that it was still there, just invisible.

Ulrich glanced down at his feet. So all it came to was one step at a time. One _careful_ step at a time.

* * *

Hiroki ran down the bridge leading to the factory at full sprint. Although he was breathing heavily, the boy pushed on until he reached the ropes leading down to the factory's floor. Not slowing down, the boy launched himself onto one and swung down.

Slamming his fist against the elevator's control switch, Hiroki crouched under the rising door as soon as it was high enough. Not wasting any time, he pressed the button for the computer lab and waited for the elevator to finally reach its destination.

As soon as the lift had lurched to a halt, Hiroki punched in the access code and squeezed through the vault doors as soon as they were wide enough.

Hiroki then grabbed the headset laying on the computer terminal. Fortunately, it seemed that Aelita had already initiated a connection with the console.

_Probably trying to contact Jeremy_, Hiroki realized as he spoke into the microphone.

"Aelita? Aelita, are you there? It's me, Hiroki," the boy said.

"Hiroki? What are you doing here? Where's Jeremy?" Aelita's voice came through the speakers as her face appeared on the monitor, looking a bit confused and not a little worried.

"He and the others are pinned up at Kadic," Hiroki explained. "Jeremy told me that you'd help me set the coordinates for virtualization."

Aelita paused for a moment, though Hiroki wasn't sure what she was considering.

Finally, she shook herself out of it.

"Well, I can certainly use all the help I can get," Aelita said. This alone was enough to get Hiroki worrying. In all the time he had known her, the virtual angel had always seemed so self-sufficient. "Alright, we don't have much time, so listen carefully," Aelita instructed.

Cracking his hands as he'd seen Jeremy do many times, Hiroki hunched over the keyboard, preparing to follow Aelita's instructions to the letter. Noting his readiness, Aelita nodded her head.

"Okay, first you need to open the virtualization program I made…"

* * *

Running as fast as they could through the hallways of Kadic were Jeremy, Odd, and William, still pursued by the horde of Xana-induced sleepwalkers.

"Gah, this is ridiculous!" Odd complained, almost out of breath as the three boys rounded a corner. "Can't we just wake them up or something?"

"I wouldn't," William cautioned, leaning back around the corner to assess the situation. "I heard that waking someone up whose sleepwalking could cause them to go into shock."

"Actually, that's not entirely accurate," Jeremy gasped, hands on his knees. "They'd be a bit confused but other than that they'd be fine." He paused for a gulp of breath. "But it hardly matters. Even if we could find a way to wake them up, they may still be under Xana's control."

"Then I guess we keep going," William interjected, pulling his head back from around the corner as the moans – and even snores – of the mob grew louder. Jeremy and Odd groaned as William took off once more.

"Hey, Will, what if we headed around the back of the gym?" Odd called as he and Jeremy followed behind. "Maybe we can skirt around them or something."

"It's worth a shot," Jeremy said as William thought it over, still running,

"Alright," the older boy nodded. "Let's give it a go."

They turned and ran for the side of the gym, their pursuers rounding the corner as they did so.

William skidded to a stop as they raced around the edge of the gym causing Odd and Jeremy to nearly bump right into him.

"Any more bright ideas?" William asked as the three were confronted with yet another horde of sleepwalkers. There were many faces Jeremy did not recognize. It didn't take him long to figure out why.

"Xana must have covered a wider area than I thought," Jeremy said. "These people must be from the houses around Kadic."

"So we're boxed in," Odd said. "Great, just great. What a way to go – smothered by snoring sleep zombies!"

"We're not caught yet," William snapped, turning to look at the gymnasium.

"I have an idea," he announced, racing off back towards the front of the building. "Come on!"

Jeremy and Odd ran after him as best they could until William reached the gymnasium doors and opened them, gesturing his friends inside. "Come on! In here." William waved his arm again. "Hurry!"

Jeremy and Odd hesitated.

"Uh, William?" Odd said. "You know we're supposed to be running _away _from the sleep zombies not trapping ourselves in a big, open building, right?"

"Just trust me!" William said in exasperation, reaching forward with a long arm, grabbing a hold of Jeremy and flinging the genius into the gym, who realized a surprised shout of protest. Odd glanced behind his shoulder once before following.

"Grab some things to put in front of the door!" William shouted at the two, who began to scramble about looking for brooms, chairs, and anything else they could construct a crude barricade out of. "We need to buy ourselves as much time as possible."

"Buy us time for what?" Jeremy asked, genuinely puzzled. "There's no way out!"

"Doesn't have to be," William clipped as he grabbed a broom from Odd and inserted it in the door handles then grabbed the chair Jeremy had dragged over, propping it against the door. "We're not going to be able to get to the factory. Not in time to help at least."

"So what's your plan?" Odd huffed as he lugged over a few heavy training mats.

"We need to make it until Aelita and Hiroki deactivate the tower," William said, helping Odd prop the mats up. The older boy then pointed to the other end of the gym. "And that means we need the high ground."

Odd and Jeremy followed his gaze to the rock wall. Jeremy's eyes widened as he realized what William was implying.

"Are you serious?" He exclaimed. "If one of us falls then it'll be just as bad as getting caught by that horde out there!"

"Then I guess we better not fall," William said, racing over to the wall in question. He paused for just a moment to wave Jeremy and Odd over before turning to climb up the artificial cliff. "Now come on – that barricade won't hold them forever."

As if to highlight his point, the doors suddenly clanged loudly, buckling in ever so slightly as someone from outside slammed against them. Jeremy and Odd shared a look.

"Guess we'll get to see who's the fastest after all," Odd joked, trying to lighten the mood as always.

"Lucky me," Jeremy muttered, jogging over to the rock wall. Glancing up at the rapidly ascending form of William then over to the shuddering doors, Jeremy took a deep breath and grabbed onto the highest handhold he could reach. "Whelp. Here goes nothing."

* * *

Ulrich stumbled through the way tower's walls just as his strength began to fail him. The walk back to the massive structure, although short in distance, had been painstakingly slow, for Ulrich had not wanted to risk accidentally heading the wrong way and stepping off the plateau.

Kneeling down onto the tower's platform, Ulrich felt the latent energy of Lyoko slowly rejuvenate him. And with that, he had a decision to make as the dull booms echoed through the tower.

The samurai was no fool. Although he had not set foot outside the desert since he had devirtualized Yumi, Ulrich knew enough of what had happened elsewhere on Lyoko to figure out that Xana had been working through each of the sector's towers in a systematic fashion. Why this was, Ulrich wasn't sure, but he knew that this attack would likely be coming from the Desert Sector. His home.

The last time Xana had launched an attack from the Desert, Ulrich had been too drained from the mountain mists to arrive in time. He still wasn't quite sure from which plateau the attack had originated from – somewhere in the east was all he knew, probably the Maze.

Regardless of that, Ulrich knew he had a duty to fulfill. He was still the Lyoko Guardian of the Desert Sector as much as he would wish not to be. And while Odd was one to shirk his duties, Ulrich was not.

So with grunt Ulrich pushed himself to his feet, drew his sword, and walked to the edge of the platform. Gazing down into the chasm below, the samurai's eyes hardened. Although he had struck the final blow, Xana had as much to do with Yumi's demise as he did. And Ulrich wasn't about to let the rogue AI have even the satisfaction of a near victory.

And so, Ulrich leaned forward and leapt down into the darkness that would soon be replaced by the scorching light of the desert.

* * *

Aelita was still standing at the edge of the sandstone cliff when Hiroki materialized behind her and landed with a light thud on the sand-coated rock.

"Hiroki, good," Aelita glanced over her shoulder. "I'm afraid getting to the tower is _not_ going to be easy."

"What do you mean?" Hiroki asked as he crept over to the virtual angel's side, crouching down like she was. Aelita didn't have to answer his question, however, as he gazed down into the clearing. "Oh."

"Yeah," Aelita replied as they stared down at the host of monsters below.

"Any ideas?" Hiroki asked.

"No."

Hiroki fell silent at this, but he turned his head back to Aelita as she spoke up again.

"Well, maybe one," Aelita started hesitantly, chewing her lip as she thought her idea over. "But it's risky."

"Do we have a choice?"

"No, not really I suppose," Aelita admitted. "So how many of those kankrelat do you think you could take out at once?"

Hiroki glanced down. There was sixteen of the roach-like creatures in the box canyon. Some were wandering about but there was a large group of them sitting idly together just south of the tower in the direction of the one remaining entrance to the clearing.

"Well, if I can get over there," Hiroki pointed to the large cluster of monsters and Aelita's eyes followed. "I might be able to take them out – so about nine? Maybe eleven if I get lucky."

"Really?" Aelita arced an eye, impressed. "You must be getting pretty good with your kasari-gama."

"Yeah, I guess," Hiroki drew the weapon and handled it fondly, appreciating that Aelita had referred to the weapon by its actual name, unlike the others save for Jeremy who couldn't seem to be bothered. "I've had a lot of practice. Besides, Ulrich gave me a few tips on how to use it better." A light suddenly went on in his eyes. "Wait, what about him? Couldn't we get Ulrich to help."

"I'm afraid that's not an option right now," Aelita shook her head. "I wish I'd thought of having you try and contact Ulrich before you virtualized but I was in a rush." Aelita sighed. "Not that it would have mattered, I suppose. Ulrich didn't help us out the last time either."

"Hey, don't worry," Hiroki consoled the pinkette, resting a hand on her shoulder. "He's just…working some things out. And we got this, right?"

"Of course," Aelita shook her head. "Still, that's no excuse for abandoning your friends." Aelita stood up to her full height and activated her wings. "As soon as I tell you, I want you to charge down there and take down that group of kankrelats. Use your super-smoke."

"But what about the other monsters?" Hiroki stood up as well, fidgeting a bit. "And what are _you_ going to do?"

"With any luck," Aelita said, taking a deep breath. "Cut the odds in half. Ready?"

"As ready as I'll ever be," Hiroki shrugged. Aelita nodded and turned to face the monsters below, which still patrolled the area. What she was waiting for, Hiroki didn't know, but after a few seconds of this Aelita tensed.

"Now!" She shouted, leaping into the air.

In the blink of an eye Hiroki reacted.

"Super-smoke!" He intoned as he leapt down into the canyon below.

Hiroki surged towards the group of kankrelats. The tarantulas, by far the more intelligent of Xana's monsters, were quick to overcome their initial surprise and began to fire volley after volley at Hiroki and Aelita.

The virtual angel weaved and bobbed, avoiding the arcing bolts of energy and sometimes countering with her own energy fields. When she saw Hiroki near the group of kankrelats, she steeled herself.

"Here goes nothing," Aelita muttered. Holding out her hand, the sound of singing filled the air, resonating with the world itself.

The tarantulas attacking her paused, heads swinging about in confusion as the ground beneath them began to shake.

Then, without warning, the ground beneath half of the massive creatures disappeared, sending four tarantulas, one of the megatanks, and even a kankrelat that had wandered too far plummeting into the digital ocean below. Simultaneously a rock wall formed between the remainder of the larger monsters and Hiroki. A data transference.

As six beams of multi-colored light shot up into the air Aelita felt her strength drain away, and the virtual angel plummeted to the ground.

"Aelita!" Hiroki cried out as he reformed.

His initial impulse was to try and catch the falling girl but he was smack-dab in the middle of a kankrelat horde. Hiroki swung his kasari-gama in a wide arc, letting the chain fly farther when need be. In a matter of seconds, eleven of the kankrelats, unable to react fast enough, were cut in half. The remaining four kankrelats backed away from the shinobi, sharing what might be concerned glances if they had been intelligent enough to be concerned.

Aelita slammed into the ground unconscious as the miserable little creatures shattered to pieces.

"Get away from her!" Hiroki snarled at the kankrelats approaching the fallen angel. With a few swipes of his scythe, Hiroki made short work of the remaining pests before rushing over to Aelita's side.

"Aelita! Aelita! Wake up! It's me, Hiroki," the young shinobi said, propping up the angel's head in his arms and shaking her gently.

A resounding crack came from the wall of stone as the megatank beyond fired its main laser. A series of smaller booms followed indicating the tarantulas had also began their assault on the barrier. Hiroki's eyes widened as the thick sandstone began to crack and he redoubled his efforts.

"Come on, Aelita! Wake _up_!" Hiroki shook her harder this time, eliciting a moan from the angel. Her eyes flickered slightly but Aelita still did not regain consciousness.

Deciding he was getting nowhere, Hiroki hauled up Aelita, supporting her as best as he could even though she was nearly a head taller than him.

"Gnngh," Hiroki grunted as he stumbled forward with the unconscious angel. "I know I'm not supposed to say this to a girl, but you're a lot heavier than you look."

Aelita just groaned vaguely as Hiroki tried to walk her forward towards the tower.

"Just a little more," Hiroki muttered, placing one foot and front of the other.

The rock wall, which had been slowly cracking, suddenly exploded outward, sending Hiroki and Aelita flying. The shinobi's weapon clattered across the ground and away from the boy.

Coughing, Hiroki pushed himself up. He gasped when he saw four tarantulas stalking through the hole in the rock wall and making their way towards him with the megatank close behind.

The tarantulas screeched as they caught sight of Hiroki. Struggling to his feet, Hiroki rushed over to where his kasari-gama had fallen. A wall of crimson energy cut in front of him causing the shinobi to stumble backwards and fall over.

The tarantulas screeched in triumph as they knelt down and aimed at the shinobi. Hiroki's eyes shut, expecting to soon feel the impact of a laser volley.

Suddenly out of nowhere, a shout suddenly rang through the air. Hiroki's eyes shot open in time to see a blur of yellow flash before him. The blur leapt forward and separated into three samurai. A grin spread its way across Hiroki's face.

"Ulrich!" He cried, unable to control his excitement and relief.

The samurai didn't reply as his two clones on either side of him plunged their katana into a tarantula, the two massive creatures caught momentarily off-guard by their sudden appearance. As the two spider-like creatures exploded, the middle samurai hurled his katana forward. The saber flew between the megatanks two hard shells just as they began to close. Impaled through its central core, the megatank rolled backwards before it to shattered.

"Get Aelita to the tower!" The now weaponless samurai called to Hiroki as his duplicates were obliterated by the remaining tarantula.

Before the shinobi could even reply, Ulrich leapt back into the fray, leaping and dodging around bursts of energy as the tarantulas tried to hit him before he could reach his weapons.

Reinvigorated, Hiroki dragged Aelita to her feet once more. This time, the virtual angel was more awake.

"Hiroki?" She muttered, eyes unfixed as she stared through him. "What's goin on?"

"It's alright," Hiroki assured her, as he walked them towards the tower. "Ulrich's here. We just got to get you to the tower."

"Ulrich…tower….," Aelita mumbled to herself, stumbling forward as her eyes began to clear.

"Yeah, just a little further," Hiroki said.

A screech roared out from behind the shinobi.

"Hiroki, look out!" Ulrich called out.

But it was too late, the twin bursts of energy had already struck Hiroki square on the back. As Aelita fell forward through the wall of the tower to the infuriated shriek of a tarantula, Hiroki disintegrated before his avatar hit the ground.

* * *

Far beneath the factory, machines whirred as one of the three scanners activated and opened, bright light pouring out from within as Hiroki stumbled out.

The young boy leaned against the side of the scanner before backhanding his fist into the opposite side of the massive cylinder.

"Idiot!" Hiroki scolded himself.

* * *

Moans and snores drifted up from below as Jeremy, Odd, and William clung to the top of the climbing wall. The horde of possessed sleepwalkers had broken through the doors as trio reached the top of the tower, Odd and William having to pull Jeremy up at the very end.

"So, they can't climb, right?" Odd asked, peering down at the mob that was soon to reach the base of the wall.

"Um, well…" William glanced over to Jeremy. Although the older boy was a decent athlete and no slacker when it came work, he was, admittedly, not knowledgeable in the field of sleepwalking.

Jeremy thought for a moment. Neither was he, but he could make deductions well enough.

"They might be able to," Jeremy began. "It depends on how Xana's controlling them. After all, people who've sleepwalked have been known to perform such complex tasks as preparing a meal or driving a car, so it's not too unreasonable to conclude that they could climb too."

"Suddenly the high ground doesn't seem so appealing," Odd gulped as he glanced down at the mob that had surrounded the base of the rock wall.

Sure enough, the mass of sleep zombies began to work their way up. The first few actually climbed but the remainder were forced to pile up below them, climbing over each other as they mindlessly tried to reach the three Lyoko Warriors.

"Okay, I've seen enough zombie flicks to know where this is going," William grunted as he stood up precariously on the top of the wall. Reaching upward, the tall boy grabbed onto one of the ceilings metal rafters. Swinging himself up, William held a hand down to Odd. "Grab on. I'll hoist you two up. It's not a permanent solution but it'll at least buy Aelita and Hiroki more time."

With one final glance down, Odd grabbed a hold of William's hand. As the older boy hoisted his friend up, Jeremy edged his way over. All the while below the pyramid of sleepwalkers grew closer and closer.

* * *

Aelita's eyes shot open as her mind cleared and energy filled her once more. Groaning, Aelita pushed herself to her feet, hand on her head as she got her bearings.

She was in the activated tower. So Hiroki had managed after all.

Worry fluttered through Aelita for a moment before she reminded herself that no harm would come to Hiroki if he was devirtualized. But harm might very well come to the rest of her friends if she didn't deactivate the tower.

Walking to the central platform, lights signing upwards as the resonance of the tower grew, Aelita stood in the center, cleared her mind, and slowly began to levitate upwards.

Flipping around to align with the platform above, Aelita's mantra combined with the tower's resonance to form a beautiful choir.

* * *

"Alright, give me your hand, Einstein," William called from above.

Jeremy worked his way up to stand on shaky legs as he reached up to grab William's arm, the moans from below growing closer every moment

* * *

Aelita's feet touched down softly as she stepped down onto the upper platform. A crystalline blue screen materialized before her and she stepped forward, placing down her right hand.

* * *

"Almost there!" Odd called out to Jeremy as the boy reached out his hand. His fingers had brushed William's when the blonde felt something grab onto his leg.

"Ah!" Jeremy cried, looking down to see one of the sleepwalkers had a firm grip on his leg.

"Hang on!" William cried as he tightened his grip. But more hands joined the one already pulling down Jeremy.

"Hurry!" Jeremy cried out in panic as he began to slip.

* * *

Words scrolled slowly across the screen as Aelita waited for the appropriate sequence.

* * *

Jeremy's hand slipped out of William's as the weight from below was to great. With a cry Jeremy fell off the climbing tower.

"Jeremy!" Odd and William cried as their friend plummeted to the hard ground below.

* * *

Finally, the words Aelita desired appeared on the screen.

Pressing her hand forward, Aelita entered the code: Lyoko.

The panels surrounding her plummeted to the depths of the tower, and a brilliant light surged upwards from below.

* * *

Time seemed to slow for Jeremy as he plummeted towards the ground. Before his body could slam painfully into the hardwood floor, though, a brilliant light surged through the room, engulfing the world and in a flash reverting it all.

* * *

Aelita breathed a sigh of relief as the tower grew silent. She hadn't been sure about launching a return trip – each one strengthened Xana after all – but all thing's given, she felt it was better to be safe than sorry.

Returning to the platform below, Aelita stepped out into the harsh light of the desert.

For a moment, she was confused. Her barrier lay in ruins yet there was not a monster in sight. Surveying the landscape, Aelita saw no sign of Hiroki. Not that she should have. The return trip would have automatically materialized him if he had still remained on Lyoko.

She seemed to recall Hiroki mentioning Ulrich's name, but the memory was all a blur. Yet who else could have arrived in time to destroy the monsters?

Something caught her eye as she surveyed the clearing. Walking over to the map-stone Ulrich had made, Aelita noticed there was something different about it.

Her eyes roved over it until she determined what: next to some of the towers on the map was carved the eye of Xana. And each mark corresponded with one of the towers that had been activated recently. It seemed she and Jeremy weren't the only ones to have noticed a pattern.

But it was the symbol next to the Northern Wastes tower that really caught her attention. The only way Ulrich could have carved it there is if he had just been in the area.

So he had come after all.

And yet he hadn't stayed.

Aelita's face dropped at this, but she shook her head. One day, perhaps, Ulrich would open up to her. Until then…maybe he really did just need some time to himself.

And with that thought, Aelita began the long walk back to her tower in the Forest Sector. She chose to walk for she had much to think about.

**Post-Story Author's Note: As always, I hope you enjoyed, and I appreciate any feedback that you are willing to give me. Same "preview" as last time goes for the next chapter. If I don't have it posted in a week then it'll be another month before the next update. But, hey, look on the bright side: by then I'll have more than one chapter ready to be transcribed and uploaded. So until then, I bide you all have a wonderful day.  
**


	24. Chapter 24

**Author's Note: Another month, another chapter. Thank you for the reviews, as always they are what help motivate me. So without any further ado, I'll leave you alone.**

**Now on with the story...**

The harsh clang of metal on metal shattered the desolate silence of the Northern Wastes. The shrill sound was followed by another then another, accompanied at times with a grunt or shout.

Beneath the imposing form of the plateau's tower, three samurai were locked in combat. Two wielded twin katana, keen and glinting in the desert sun. The third samurai wielded only one, scarred and pitted but no less sharp.

The two samurai lunged at the other, and Ulrich parried their strikes with a flurry of his own before leaping away, out of sword's reach.

Ulrich didn't need pause to recover, instead charging right back at his opponents, using his super-speed to dart side to side in bursts of yellow.

The rightmost duplicate parried the desert guardian's blows, barely managing to keep pace with Ulrich.

A hint of a smile tugged at Ulrich's lips as the other samurai, blocked for a time by his companion, rejoined the fight as Ulrich began to wear down his opponent's defenses.

It had been a long time since the desert guardian had had a good fight, so consumed had he been with his exploration of the Mountain Sector.

He had, for some time, encountered nothing and no one, but that had changed soon enough. A chance encounter with a swarm of hornets had made clear to him that he was beginning to get a little rusty in combat. He'd managed to defeat the angered swarm and escape, but only just.

A blade whistled through the air right in front of his face. If his reflexes had been any slower or the blow any closer, it could have taken his head off.

Determined not to have another close shave, Ulrich let all else but the battle at hand fade away.

Not a hard thing to do. The fight was more than enough to keep him occupied, as anyone who's fought two dual-wielding swordsman with a single blade will tell you.

For not a moment passed where Ulrich wasn't parrying or dodging a strike; or casting forth his own.

But even with the fraction of his knowledge they possessed, Ulrich still outmatched his duplicates.

With a deft twist of his hand, the desert guardian sent the two katana of one clone flying through the air.

His other doppelgänger attempted to save its ally but Ulrich ducked beneath its blades and slashed his katana through his disarmed foe. Before the first samurai had devirtualized, the second met a similar fate.

Ulrich sheathed his katana, a frown settling on his lips. Though intense, the sparring match had not lasted long enough to satisfy the desert guardian. True, he could have gone easy and prolonged the fight, but that wouldn't help improve his skills.

"Impressive," a voice chimed up from behind him.

Whirling about, hand flying to the hilt of his katana, Ulrich was surprised to see Aelita sitting on one of the sandstone boulders that littered the canyon floor. The pinkette had one leg drawn up while the other dangled down.

"Aelita!"

The virtual angel arced an eyebrow at the samurai's raised hand. Ulrich's eyes darted to the hand which still gripped his katana and dropped it to his side.

"Still as jumpy as ever I see," Aelita chuckled as she hopped down from her perch, which Ulrich noted was well out of sword's reach. "Where's your other sword? I didn't see it in the Oasis."

Aelita glanced about the clearing as if she would find the telltale glint of a katana amidst the sand. Ulrich's hand returned to his sword's hilt, fidgeting with the cloth-wrapped metal.

"Oh…that," Ulrich said. Aelita's gaze returned to him. "I sorta…lost it."

Well, not the sword he'd retrieved from the Oasis. He'd grabbed that because he'd lost his other katana off the side of a mountain.

"Lost it?" Aelita's eyes narrowed. "Or did you throw it into the Digital Sea?"

Ulrich raised an eyebrow at that. It wasn't a bad idea – if he'd had his other sword that is. It would mean a lot less painful memories at least.

"No, I didn't throw it into the Digital Sea," Ulrich said. Technically it was true. He hadn't thrown it into the Digital Sea – he'd thrown it at a hornet. And then it fell into the Digital Sea. And it hadn't been the sword Aelita'd been thinking of. Unfortunately.

"Actually, it's right here," Ulrich drew his katana. "I lost the other one in the Moun-er, in a fight a few…days ago."

Ulrich still struggled a bit with Earth time scales that meant nothing to his desert.

"You lost your katana in a fight?" Aelita seemed incredulous. "But the only way it could have been destroyed was to have it fall into the Digital Sea or try and block a megatank's ray."

Ulrich floundered for a moment trying to think up a convincing lie. Aelita would never believe that he lost it fighting hornets in the _Desert_ Sector.

"Um, as a matter of fact I _did_ fight a megatank," Ulrich decided. "But it was too close to the edge when I threw my sword into its eye. It rolled off before I could grab it."

"Oh, I see," Aelita bought the lie. Ulrich breathed a soft sigh of relief. "You know, you could have just asked me or Jeremy to make another."

Ulrich glanced down at his sword. In all honesty, the thought hadn't occurred to him. "Of course," he said. Having two katana _would_ be nice. Then again, maybe it would just bring to mind more memories.

"Ulrich, are you alright?" Aelita stepped forward, snapping him out of his reverie. He looked up at her.

"I'm fine," Ulrich straightened up, perhaps harsher than he meant to be. "It's just…why are you here Aelita? I doubt it was to talk about my swords."

The virtual angel sighed, her facade of cheerfulness falling away.

"Straight to the point," Aelita said, squaring herself and staring Ulrich straight in the eye. "Fine, then. I'm worried about you Ulrich," she said. "We all are. It's been two weeks since-"

"Since I devirtualized Yumi," Ulrich said. He refused to use the word 'killed'. She couldn't be dead. "I know. What's your point?"

A hardness flashed in Aelita's eye. A look Ulrich had learned to grow wary of.

"You know what my point is," Aelita said, her voice cool. "You haven't thought of anything else, but meanwhile Xana's attacks have grown more frequent – and more powerful, both here and in the real world." Ulrich hated it when Aelita referred to Earth as 'the real world'. "We've managed to fend them off, but only just."

"I've helped you deactivate the towers in the desert," Ulrich reminded her, sheathing his sword and turning to face his crudely carved map. But he knew his answer wouldn't satisfy Aelita.

"Because you want to? Or just because you're the desert guardian?" Aelita challenged.

Ulrich bowed his head and didn't reply. He didn't really know the answer himself. At times he felt like forgetting about the Lyoko Warriors entirely, but something always kept him from letting it go.

Aelita spoke up again when Ulrich didn't respond.

"Ulrich, whether you like it or not, we _are_ a team. Not just you and me and Odd but the others, too," she said. The virtual angel took a step forward and placed a hand on Ulrich's shoulder. "And I'd like to think we're friends too."

Ulrich glanced at Aelita's hand and sighed. For a while he'd thought 'friend' had applied to the Lyoko Wanderers and his fellow guardians. Then to Yumi. Then maybe to both.

"I'd…like to think so too," Ulrich said, surprising himself that his words were indeed honest, "I just…"

"I know," Aelita reassured him. "You needed time. It's hard to lose someone you care about. I don't know what I'd do without Jeremy. We've almost lost each other so many times."

"But you haven't," Ulrich muttered. It was loud enough for Aelita to hear, as were most things.

"No," Aelita agreed. "But I guess we were foolish to hope we could beat Xana without a loss."

Ulrich turned to Aelita, who released her hand from his shoulder.

"You think she's gone then?" Ulrich asked. "Yumi?"

Aelita was caught off-guard by the question's suddenness. She bit her lip before shaking her head.

"I don't know," she admitted. "Jeremy and I haven't found any clue about what happened to her. It's like she just…disappeared. When monsters devirtualize they leave behind traces for a little while. When the others devirtualize their data is buffered until they can be materialized or dispersed into the Digital Sea. But who knows?" She said. "Maybe that's just what happens to us when we get devirtualized. We just…disappear."

Suddenly standing before Ulrich wasn't the fierce forest guardian, just an uncertain, young girl, and Ulrich realized that he hadn't been the only one to take Yumi's lose hard.

"Or maybe she's not gone," Ulrich said, voicing aloud what coursed through his mind every time he thought of Yumi.

Aelita looked back up at Ulrich.

"You don't think she's gone, then?" She asked.

Ulrich hesitated, drawing in a useless breath of air. His frowned deepened as he considered his answer. At last he shook his head.

"No," he said, with surprising force and certainty. "No, I don't."

"Then I won't either," Aelita's lips pressed in a thin line, determination filling her eyes. "And I know Jeremy won't too. We'll keep looking for her, Ulrich."

"Thanks," Ulrich said, touched by the forest guardian's sincerity. "It…means a lot to me."

"Anytime," Aelita smiled, regaining her spirits. She let out a soft laugh. "Now, how about we get you a new sword?"

* * *

"Ready for another test drive?" Jeremy asked William as he met his older friend in the hallway.

"Ready as I'll ever be," William grinned, shortening his stride to match Jeremy's. "Just so long as there aren't three of me again – I don't think the girls here could handle it."

"Whatever you say," Jeremy rolled his eyes. William was referencing their first attempt at testing the teleportation ability Jeremy had made. Needless to say, it hadn't gone smooth. "At least Odd and Hiroki are going to a movie with Johnny, so they'll be out of my hair."

"Where's Aelita?" William asked, holding the door open for Jeremy before following him through.

"She went to find Ulrich. See if she could talk some sense into him," Jeremy shook his head. "Not sure what good that'll do though. He hasn't been very talkative lately."

"Has he ever been talkative?" William wondered aloud as they headed into Kadic's forest. "Besides, can you blame him? I mean, he had to kill Yumi to save Odd and Aelita. That's pretty tough."

"Yeah, I suppose so," Jeremy said, his voice trailing off.

"What is it?" William asked, glancing over to the blond, the shadows of the leaves dappling over Jeremy's pensive face.

"Well, I'm still not sure Yumi's…dead," Jeremy replied. "At least, not completely. I know I haven't found anything – but that's just it. Even a monster leaves behind a unique signature when its devirtualized. It doesn't last for long, but still."

"What about Yumi?" William asked.

"With Yumi? Nothing," Jeremy said. "Absolutely nothing. No devirtualization signature. No data buffered. No residual data. It's like she just vanished."

"Do you think Xana has something to do with it?" William said, stooping down as the two boys neared the manhole cover and lugging the cast iron plate out of the ground.

"I don't know," Jeremy replied as he climbed down the ladder. "And that's what bugs me. I can't help but think that Xana would use her if he still had Yumi in his possession, but he hasn't. So if Yumi wasn't devirtualized, then where is she?"

William didn't reply as he followed Jeremy down. The question was one he didn't have an answer for.

* * *

Mists drifted gently through the mountains. Once, the tranquil view would have soothed her. Now, it only served to anger her further.

"This is pointless," Yumi hissed to the presence she now felt constantly. Once she had been ignorant of it. Then yearned for it. Now it was simply there.

**Patience**. The word resonated through Yumi's mind. **The…process is nearly complete.**

"Well, it better be completely complete soon," Yumi growled, flexing her fists. "Jeremy's going to pay for what he did to me. They all will."

**And yet…you have not confronted the desert…guardian. Even though he has...trespassed here.  
**

The voice was not disappointed nor urging nor angry. If anything it seemed almost curious, inquisitive.

"Why should I?" Yumi asked, eyes scouring the landscape. "He can die with Lyoko for all I care. Last, just like he was the first I met."

The voice was silent. It seemed sated with Yumi's answer.

The ninja gritted her teeth as the silence began to weigh once more on her mind. At least speaking with the voice helped pass the time. Meditation no longer soothed her.

She wondered once again why she felt so angry, so full of hate. Especially given that she could, or at least thought she did, remember feeling…other things, whatever they were.

A distant rumble sent tremors through the mountains. Yumi turned her gaze towards the peak where the Tower of Dissonance lay.

The deep thrums of the pulsations calmed Yumi's seething mind for a moment.

"Well?" she asked to the empty air.

**Patience.**

* * *

"Well, how is it?"

Ulrich looked over to Aelita. He had been twirling his new katana in slow circles. In truth it was as good as the last one, well-balanced and sharp. He'd only been getting a feel for having a second blade again, though to Aelita it might have seemed as if he were critiquing the blade.

"It's fine," Ulrich reported, sheathing the blade with a flourish. "As good as the old one."

"Good," she said. "I'd be worried if it weren't the same."

Ulrich felt she had said this with a sense of irony, but what was ironic about it he couldn't tell.

Aelita cocked her head to one side, eyes almost closing as if listening to a faint sound. Ulrich was immediately alert.

"What is it?" He asked, glancing about, hands creeping to the hilts strapped on his back.

Aelita didn't answer right away, but when she did her eyes flew open with alarm.

"Pulsations!" She exclaimed. "Xana's launched an attack!"

* * *

Odd and Johnny walked beside Hiroki in animated discussion about the movie they were going to watch, courtesy of Mr. Delmas canceling afternoon school for a fire inspection.

Hiroki wasn't paying attention to his friends. Rather, his eyes were on a particular redhead standing at Kadic's gate.

Milly and Tamiya seemed to be in one of their infamous arguments. Judging by the camera in Tamiya's hand, it was probably about the Kadic Herald.

Hiroki sighed to himself. He'd learned the hard way not to take sides in their arguments. Best friends as they were, it was better to let them work it out.

"Hiroki, look out!"

Johnny slammed into Hiroki, knocking his friend out of the way as half a dozen birds dive bombed where he'd stood. The boys rolled across the grass, and when Hiroki got to his feet he saw he wasn't alone.

Anyone unlucky enough to be in the courtyard was being swarmed by flocks of ravens. Students were running about screaming, while teachers were frantically trying to gather them up.

"Take that you ugly wazps!"

Odd was swinging a tree branch around in an attempt to fend off the crazed birds.

"Uh, Odd knows those are birds, right?" Johnny asked while he and Hiroki shielded themselves with their hands.

"Yeeeah, he confuses them sometimes," Hiroki said before shouting to get Odd's attention. As their eyes made contact, they could tell they had the same thought.

This was a Xana attack.

"We need to find cover!" Hiroki yelled. Odd glanced towards Kadic.

The birds had driven their classmates and teachers inside along with all the firefighters, but that meant the way to the building was filled with angry, Xanafied birds.

"We'll never make it," Odd said, managing to make contact between one of the birds and his branch. The winged creature flew away with a squawk.

Hiroki thought as best he could while fending off the birds.

"The Hermitage!" He exclaimed, remembering the old, broken-down house Jeremy and Aelita used to sift through for information about Lyoko's creator. "We'll be safe in there!"

_And we'll be able to get to the factory,_ Hiroki added, though not aloud. Odd caught his drift and with another swing charged for the forest.

"Alright, let's go!" Odd shouted, Hiroki and Johnny following close behind.

"What's the Hermitage?" Johnny asked as trees flew past them.

"Just some old house in the woods," Hiroki replied.

"Weird," Johnny noted.

Hiroki was about to agree when he heard a scream.

Screeching to a halt and whirling about, Hiroki saw two small forms hunched over by Kadic's gate trying to fend off the attacking birds.

"Oh, no! Milly!" Hiroki shouted. Johnny and Odd stopped at his cry. "You guys get to the Hermitage!" He waved his hand at them. "I'll get Milly and Tamiya."

He ran off before either could argue, doing his best to avoid the birds and their piercing claws.

"Come on!" Hiroki shouted to the girls as he skidded to a halt next to them. Grabbing a small branch, Hiroki swung it at the nearest birds.

Milly and Tamiya looked up in surprise at their rescuer. Their clothes were ripped from where talon and beak had torn at them and their faces were scratched.

Hiroki doubted he looked much better but grabbed Milly's hand in his and pulled her up.

"I know a place where we'll be safe," Hiroki explained. "Odd and Johnny are already on their way. Follow me!"

With that Hiroki practically dragged Milly towards the forest, stick in one hand, Milly's in the other. Hiroki tried not to blush. Tamiya followed close behind, hand grasping Milly's as they plowed through the ever-growing flock of birds.

"I hope the others are doing better than us," Hiroki muttered after a stray raven sliced a cut across his cheek before being swatted away by Hiroki's branch. But for each one he batted away, three more were there to fill its place.

* * *

Aelita and Ulrich lay flat on their stomachs as they gazed over the sand dune.

"Well this looks fun," Ulrich commented. Aelita shot him a glance. Standing beneath the activated tower was half a dozen tarantula and twice as many bloks. Fortunately, there were no megatanks, but that was hardly a comfort given the three trios of hornets that circled the midsection of the tower.

"I've tried to contact Jeremy, but no luck," Aelita shook her head. "He must be on his way to the factory still."

"Or he ran into whatever Xana's unleashed this time," Ulrich replied, grim as ever. "Do you think you could send some of these monsters into the Digital Sea with your creativity?"

Aelita chewed her lower lip as she surveyed the scene and weighed her options. The hornets were out of reach, and while there were plenty of other monsters, they kept moving about, never standing still or close together.

"No," Aelita shook her head. "Not many at least. I guess Xana's finally caught on to my little tricks."

"Took him long enough," Ulrich grumbled. "Now what are we supposed to do? We can't take on all of them by ourselves."

"We'll just have to wait," Aelita said, casting a worried glance to the sky. "But I hope for their sake we don't have to wait long."

* * *

Jeremy slammed his palm into the elevator controls. As William slid under the closing door, the metal sheets dented as a flock of birds slammed into it.

"That…was too close," William slouched against the elevator wall as the lift rumbled downwards. A thin stream of blood trickled down his forehead, courtesy of a raven's talon.

"You alright?" Jeremy asked, noticing the cut.

"I'm fine," William replied, pushing himself to his feet and wiping away the blood. "Just a scratch, that's all."

The elevator lurched to a halt and the vault doors to the lab hissed open.

"Get to the scanners," Jeremy said, walking into the room as soon as he could. "I'll contact Aelita and see if I can get a hold of Odd and Hiroki."

"Will do, Einstein," William replied as the lift doors closed once more.

Jeremy hurried over to the supercomputer interface, jumping into the chair and slapping his headset on. With a few commands from the keyboard, Jeremy pulled up the required interfaces. Aelita's face appeared shortly thereafter.

"Jeremy, thank goodness!" The virtual girl exclaimed. "I've been trying to contact you for ages! The activated tower's in the Desert Sector – the Sandy Hills."

"Got it," Jeremy replied, typing in the coordinates. "William's on his way."

"What about the others?"

Jeremy was surprised by a second voice.

"Ulrich?" Jeremy stammered. He hadn't spoken to the desert guardian in a while.

"I know my name," the samurai in question retorted. "Where are the others? It's not exactly a picnic down here."

"No kidding," Jeremy agreed as he glanced over the map. "I'm going to see if I can reach Hiroki. With any luck, he's already on his way."

* * *

Odd had finished shoving one of the dusty bookshelves against the last window with Johnny's help when Hiroki burst through the front door, pushing a rather frazzled Milly and Tamiya through before slamming it shut and sliding down to the floor.

"Hiroki, you alright?" Johnny cried, rushing over to help his friend to his feet, while Odd did likewise with the girls

All three of them looked rather terrible, clothes and skin scratched up, blood trickling down in small rivulets.

"We're fine," Milly answered for the out-of-breath Hiroki. "Just a bunch of scratches, that's it. I'd feel better if _someone_ hadn't dropped the camera though."

At this Milly shot a pointed glare at Tamiya, who had her hands on her knees.

"What?" Tamiya's head shot up. "We just got attacked by killer birds and _that's _what you're worried about?"

Milly gathered her breath for a biting retort, but Odd wasn't about to let them get into another argument.

"Whoa, hold on now," Odd said, placing a hand on each of their shoulders. "Let's not start tearing each other apart. I think the birds have already down a good enough job."

Milly's chest puffed out like she wanted to argue, but she deflated with a reluctant sigh.

"I guess you're right," Milly said, turning to Tamiya. "I'm sorry, Tamiya. I guess it wasn't your fault for dropping the camera. There _were_ a lot of birds."

"Eh, it's alright," Tamiya rubbed the back of her head. "I'm sorry about messing up your interview earlier. I know you know what you're doing." She held out her hand. "Friends?"

"Friends," Milly said, shaking Tamiya's offered hand.

Odd smiled to himself as Hiroki sidled up next to him.

"How did you do that?" Hiroki whispered. "Last time I tried to stop one of their arguments, I got my ears chewed off!"

"What can I say?" Odd grinned, leaning on Hiroki's shoulder. "I'm good with the ladies."

Hiroki rolled his eyes but didn't dispute the fact. Ever since Odd had come to Kadic, Milly and Tamiya had taken a liking to the talkative blond, who had pretty much become like a big brother to them.

A sudden ringing caused the group to start. Odd looked over at Hiroki, who seemed to be the source of the noise. The younger boy was digging around in his pocket.

"It must be Jeremy!" Hiroki told Odd as he pulled his phone out.

"Jeremy?" Milly asked. "Why would Jeremy be calling you at a time like this?"

Odd shared a worried glance with Hiroki, but to his surprise it was Johnny who answered.

"Maybe he's just worried," Johnny suggested. "I mean, we're probably the only students not at Kadic, right?"

"Right," Hiroki agreed, flipping open the phone and holding it to his ear.

Hiroki gave Johnny a grateful nod and his friend returned the gesture, but Odd noticed the girls still looked a bit skeptical. Well, Milly did, at least.

"Jeremy?" Hiroki asked into the phone. "Yeah, he's here." Hiroki gave Odd a glance. "We're in the Hermitage – Milly, Johnny, and Tamiya are with us." Another pause. Hiroki glanced at the others. "Yeah, we were attacked by the birds just like you. It's good that you guys made it to Kadic."

Odd frowned. Why would it be good that Jeremy was stuck in Kadic? Hiroki shook his head at him and continued to listen.

"Maybe," he said, glancing out the windows. "Where exactly is it again…oh, then probably not. The Hermitage is practically covered in birds by now."

"What's he talking about?" Milly asked, ever the reporter.

Odd wasn't as good as Hiroki at lying, but fortunately Hiroki hung up at that moment.

"Well," he announced. "Looks like we're stuck here until…whatever-this-is let's up."

"What?" Milly cried, hands on her hips. "Shouldn't we be doing something? Like calling the police?"

"Yeah," Tamiya put in. "Or animal control?"

"Uh, no, it's fine," Hiroki gave a faux smile. "Mr. Delmas has already done that. So all we have to do is wait it out. Don't worry, everything will be fine."

A sharp cracking noise sounded from behind one of the barricaded bookshelves.

"I hope," Hiroki muttered as another crack rang out, followed by another and another, joined by a chorus of thuds as birds slammed into glass and wood alike.

* * *

The familiar sensation of virtualization swept through William before gravity took over. Landing with a thud, William looked about to see Aelita motioning him down and over to a small dune. Ulrich was beside her staring intently over the rise, though William was sure the samurai was aware of his presence.

"What've we got?" William asked, crouching down next to Aelita to lay flat against the coarse sand.

"See for yourself," Aelita replied, turning her gaze back to the tower.

Following it, William let out a low whistle.

"Now that could be a problem," William commented. "Do you know if Hiroki and Odd are on their way?"

Aelita shook her head. Ulrich said nothing. So it was Jeremy who answered.

"Afraid not," Jeremy reported over the comm. "They're holed up in the Hermitage with some other students. Apparently they were trying to get to the secret passage that leads to the lab."

"Then what's stopping them?" Ulrich grumbled. William glanced over at the samurai.

"Xana's possessed a whole flock of birds," Jeremy said. "They wouldn't be able to make it to the passage before getting torn to shreds."

"Yeah, besides, we barely got to the factory ourselves," William added.

"Then we're on our own," Ulrich decided.

"Oh don't be so dramatic, Ulrich," Aelita chastised him amiably. "We'll find a way."

"Yeah," William agreed. "I have a little surprise I've been waiting to show Xana."

"Oh?" "Are you sure William?" "What surprise?" Aelita, Jeremy, and Ulrich all said at once.

Aelita and Ulrich paused to let Jeremy continue.

"We haven't tested the new version yet," Jeremy reminded the dopplesoldner. "What if something goes wrong?"

"Hey, relax Einstein," William said. "We've got this. Besides, what better time for a test run?"

"A test run of _what_?" Ulrich asked in mild irritation.

"You'll see," William grinned. "I've got a plan."

"I'd hope so," Ulrich muttered. "What is it?"

"Hold on," William said. "First - Aelita, think you can make a few rock spires, force some of the monsters together?"

Aelita pursed her lips and nodded.

"Sure, but I won't be able to delete the ground beneath them if that's what you're thinking."

"Don't worry. It's not," William assured. "But do you feel up for some skeet shooting?"

Ulrich frowned at the word 'skeet', but Aelita smiled.

"Definitely," Aelita replied, flexing her wrists.

"What about me?" Ulrich asked, resigned to the fate of being ignorant of most of the plan.

"Well, while I deal with the ones Aelita bunches up, do you think you can take care of the others?"

A hint of a smile ghosted Ulrich's lips. Drawing his twin katana, he said, "It'll be my pleasure. But _how_'ll you take out all those monsters by yourself? Don't get me wrong, you're a good fighter, but it's a little risky."

"Oh don't worry about William, Ulrich," Jeremy interjected. "Like he said, we've got a little surprise for Xana."

"And I suppose for me too," Ulrich said, shooting a glance at Aelita. He had the distinct feeling he was the only one who didn't know what this 'surprise' was. But looking innocent came natural to the virtual angel. Ulrich shrugged. He hadn't been the most reliable ally of late, might as well take some payback.

"Alright," he said. "Ready when you are."

William turned to Aelita and nodded at the group of monsters.

"Do it."

Aelita closed her eyes, arms outstretched as angelic singing filled the air.

The ground around the tower began to shake, sowing confusion among the monsters below, though the hornets remained unperturbed.

Or did, until four large spires of rocks erupted from the sands, disrupting their flight pattern and herding half the creatures below closer together.

William glanced over to Ulrich.

"Let's go," He grinned. "Teleport."

Upon saying this, William, much to Ulrich's surprise, vanished from his side only to reappear in the midst of the herded bloks and tarantulas, whose surprise no doubt dwarfed Ulrich's.

But the samurai wasn't one to let surprise keep him. In the blink of an eye he was off, intoning his own abilities. Soon enough, as William cleaved through three of the bloks and the legs of the nearest tarantula in a frenzied dervish with Zweih_ä_nder, three samurai charged into battle and set upon the remaining monsters.

* * *

Back at the sand dune, Aelita rubbed her head. While her performance had been less than some of her other feats, the act still put a drain on her.

"Are you alright Aelita?" Jeremy asked.

"I'm fine, Jeremy. Don't worry," Aelita answered with a soft smile.

Aelita waved a hand over her star bracelet and leapt into the sky.

"Energy field!" She intoned, hurling two spheres of pink energy at a pair of wazps nearing William. The two creatures, unaware of the danger, were struck dead-on and shattered.

A few more energy fields brought down two more and drew the attention of the rest.

As the swarm converged on the forest guardian, Aelita weaved through the air, dodging laser fire and acid streams.

"Hornet at five 'o clock," Jeremy warned her.

Aelita whirled around, dodging the oncoming hornet and blasting it to pieces.

"Great job, Aelita!" Jeremy cheered.

"Why thank you Jeremy," she said, performing a small curtsy midair, even though Jeremy couldn't see it.

Then, with no more ado, Aelita plunged back into the battle as down below William sliced clean through a blok. Noting the remaining bloks and tarantula standing before him, William grinned.

"Haven't done this nearly enough!" He said, raising Zweihänder over his shoulder. The massive blade glowed with white energy, empowered from destroying so many of Xana's creatures.

"Take this!" William shouted, sweeping the massive sword before him, a wave of white energy cascading from the blade.

The energy surge shattered the remaining bloks and knocked the tarantula off balance. A teleport later and the massive creature shattered under the force of Zweihänder.

Yanking Zweihänder from the sandstone, William paused to to take stock of the battle.

Aelita was still in combat with a trio of hornets, while Ulrich, although having lost a clone, had whittled the remaining monsters down to a handful of bloks and two tarantulas, all of which were firing volley after volley at the remaining samurai.

"Aelita!" William waved with his free hand. "We've got this. Deactivate the tower!"

The virtual angel glanced down, nodded, and plummeted towards the tower base. The three hornets followed her, and William waited until Aelita had entered the tower before swinging Zweihänder.

The hornets, intent on their prey and heedless of William, were obliterated.

"Okay," William muttered, using his sword's momentum to pivot the massive blade onto his shoulder. The dopplesoldner turned to where Ulrich and the remaining monsters were. "Three down, half a dozen to go."

* * *

Milly flinched at the loud crash as the window behind one of the bookshelves shattered. The birds couldn't get in, but that wasn't much comfort to Milly.

Looking around, Milly could already see cracks appearing in the walls as the flock outside continued its attack.

"They're breaking through," Tamiya wailed from beside Milly, hugging her knees. Milly glanced over at her friend sympathetically.

"Don't worry, Hiroki and Odd got this," Johnny replied from where he was peeking out one of the cracks in the bookcases, though his voice faltered a bit when he turned to the boys in question. "Right?"

Hiroki and Odd looked over to Johnny. The two stood some ways off from the others and had been talking quietly. Milly had tried to listen in, but all she'd caught was something about leaving the house, or the Hermitage as they called it, and something about a lab. Why they wanted to leave and go to some lab was beyond Milly. After all, how would they even get back to Kadic to start out with?

"Yeah, it'll be fine, you'll see," Odd said. Milly glanced between the two boys. They both seemed pretty sure of themselves. But how?

"How can you be so sure?" Milly asked, falling into what Tamiya liked to call her 'reporter mode'. "Even if those crazed birds don't get in here, we're still trapped!"

"Just trust us, okay?" Hiroki pleaded.

Milly could see he was being sincere, but then again, he and Odd were some of the biggest pranksters in school. And although that provided a few articles now and then for the Kadic Herald, she wasn't too sure about his credibility.

Still, she found herself nodding and saying, "Ok." Much to Tamiya's surprise, of course. "Don't worry, Tamiya," she said, turning to her friend. "Well get out of this yet…somehow."

A loud crack rang out through the room as a bookshelf began to splinter.

_I hope,_ Milly added for herself.

* * *

Ulrich dodged the volley of a tarantula and landed on top of a nearby blok. With a swift jab, Ulrich devirtualized the monster and leapt away. The samurai landed next to William as the dopplesoldner cut through the remaining two bloks.

"What's the matter, Ulrich?" William laughed. "Feeling slow? That's fourteen to five now."

Ulrich would have shot the dopplesoldner a glare if he could.

"Easy to say when Aelita gave most of them to you," Ulrich grunted, deflecting the blasts of one of the last tarantulas.

"Tch, you don't even have half of mine," William scoffed. Ulrich narrowed his eyes.

"Then let's fix that," he said.

With a swipe of his leg, Ulrich sent William tumbling to the ground. As William fell, Ulrich hurled one of his katana over the dopplesoldner and then, without waiting for impact, Ulrich spun on his heel and darted towards his tarantula, leaping over the startled creature and slamming his remaining sword into its symbol, just as his first impaled itself into William's tarantula.

Ulrich leaped off the massive beast as both shattered.

He walked over to William as the dopplesoldner pushed himself to his feet.

"There," Ulrich said. "Half."

William glared at the samurai.

"Still only half," he muttered.

* * *

As the fighting had raged on outside, Aelita's mind was calmed by the rhythmic hum of the tower. Stepping into its center, Aelita's voice joined with the resonance of the tower, lifting the virtual angel up through the heart of the massive structure.

* * *

Glass shattered all around the house. Wood splintered and thin plywood began to give way under the relentless assault of bodies. Milly and Tamiya clung to each other while Odd, Hiroki, and Johnny backed up to the center of the room.

* * *

Aelita stepped onto the upper platform of the tower, a blue crystalline screen virtualizing in front of her. Released from the towers grasp, Aelita stepped forward.

* * *

A crash thundered from upstairs. The girls screamed as the others spun around and were faced with the blade tide that poured from the stairwell.

* * *

Aelita placed her hand on the screen before her. Her name crawled across; the tower verifying her identity.

* * *

Ravens filled the room as hands tried to wave them away, but that didn't stop the relentless onslaught of talons and beaks.

* * *

Finally, the screen asked for the needed code.

And with a thought, Aelita entered it.

Lyoko.

* * *

Suddenly Odd, Hiroki, Johnny, Milly, and Tamiya no longer felt their skin being scratched and pecked. Hesitantly, Milly opened her eyes (she'd seen enough of _The Birds_ to close them).

Though ravens still flew about the room, they were no longer attacking the group. Rather, they were bumping into furniture and walls in a frantic attempt to escape the house.

Milly lowered her hands and looked at the others. Though scratched up and bleeding, Hiroki met her eyes and grinned.

"Told you so."

* * *

Ulrich retrieved his fallen katana after William had been devirtualized. Jeremy had been the one to do it, so the samurai could only assume that the attack in the real world hadn't been so severe that it required a return trip. All the better as far as he was concerned. Less strength for Xana. As he sheathed his sword, a soft thrum from behind him heralded Aelita's return.

"Seems like you boys cleaned up after yourselves," Aelita remarked. "Though what's this I hear about fourteen to seven? You aren't getting slow now are you, Ulrich? Because if that's why you haven't been helping us, you know I can always give you lessons."

Aelita's eyes glittered with mirth, and Ulrich turned to give her a withering look. It had been _he_ who had given lessons to _her_. Aelita's laughter just rang out over the sand dunes however.

"You really need to learn how to take a joke," Aelita chuckled, eyes smiling. "But I'm glad you're here with us all the same."

"As am I," Ulrich replied.

The samurai turned to leave but Aelita caught him by the shoulder.

"Oh no you don't, Ulrich," she said. "Before you go, I want you to think about something."

Ulrich paused.

"What it is?" He asked.

Aelita drew a breath, needless though it was.

"About coming to Earth," she said. "Jeremy's had the materialization program finished for a while now, and Odd's dorm room still has room for another – and I know it might seem a bit abrupt for you but-"

Aelita stopped speaking when Ulrich laid his hand on hers.

"Alright," he said.

Aelita blinked in surprise.

"What?"

"I'll think about it."

"Really?"

"Yes," Ulrich nodded, gently removing her hand from his shoulder. "But first I need to work some things out."

Aelita nodded her head in understanding.

"Okay then," she said after a while. "Just don't get lost in yourself. It's easier than you might think."

Ulrich gazed at the virtual angel. It sounded as if she spoke from experience.

"Don't worry, I won't," he said.

Ulrich turned and vanished in a flash of yellow light as he ran back into the deep desert.

Aelita remained for some time, thinking.

"Do you want me to get the materialization program ready?" Jeremy asked after silence had settled over the clearing.

"No, not yet," Aelita shook her head. "But if I were you, I'd start working on his papers."

"Oh joy," Jeremy muttered. Aelita simply smiled.

**Post Story Author's Note: Well, hope you've enjoyed. You wouldn't be able to tell by its length, but this chapter gave me a lot of grief writing. Must have used up have my notebook with drafts. Oh well - it's finally done! Let's pray the next ones come faster. As always, I appreciate any reviews, so until next time, have a splendid day (or night).**


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